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Dow Jones Industrial Average 10,930
Value Line Arithmetic Index 2,021
30-Year Treasury Yield (TYX) 4.69%
20+ Year Treasury Bond Price (TLT) 90.25
Gold 1/10 Ounce (GLD) $56.00
The Big Picture for Stocks
The 4-year cycle is negative into late 2006.
Technical Trendicator (1-4 month trend):
Stock Prices Down
Bond Prices Down
Gold Price Down
This week's sell-off in gold triggered a sell on our Technical Trendicator
model for gold. This is a 1-4 month trend model that considers psychology and
technical trend data.
A comparison of Newmont Mining's chart today versus Cisco System's price chart
during the tech boom might give us some insight into where we are in the cycle.
First, it seems to me that gold is in a similar boom period as technology
stocks were in the late 90's. In fact, there are reasons to think that gold
could perform even better than technology did then. Included in those reasons
are that gold is a univer sally recognized asset and can be owned by governments
as well as individual and corporate investors. Also, gold has a limited supply
(though admittedly, gold mining shares can issue new stock). Further, gold
is very much under-owned by most investors.
But in the near term, a correction may be in the making. Take note of the
Chart on Cisco in mid-1999. It had just broken out above several previous tops.
After a run-up, it had about a 10% correction that lasted a few weeks. But
after that, the march upward continued until the final top in early 2000.
The chart on Newmont looks similar today to the Cisco chart in mid-1999. There
may be a lot of bull market left, but a short-term correction is possible.
On a trading basis, gold bullion goes to a sell on our model. But the mining
stocks on our Special Situations list remain in tact. We want to be in these
stocks for the rest of the bull market that we think will continue. In fact,
I would be inclined to buy the junior miners on this pullback. Many have only
recently broken out of base patterns that count much higher. And most of our
recommended stocks are event driven situations that potentially have good news
coming soon. See our Special Situations list for specific ideas. We may be
adding more names. (Closed positions on our list have experienced average annualized
rates of return of in excess of 100%. Of course, past performance does not
indicate future results.)
This period in a major market move for an asset class is the most risky but
offers the most reward. The kind of sell-off we had in the commodities markets
on Tuesday is typical of a bull market. The sharpest corrections occur in a
dynamic bull market. Even if industrial commodities have made major tops, it
seems probable to me that gold will resume its bull market in the not too distant
future.
Bull markets are characterized by three stages, as described by Eric Hommelberg
on an article at www.321.gold: The first
stage is being characterized by climbing a wall of worry and denial. The second
stage will be characterized by acceptance and large inflow of institutional
investment capital. The third stage will be characterized by mania.
I doubt that the second stage is anywhere near complete. How often do you
hear institutional investors mention their gold component? And even after the
nice move in gold so far, CNBC still generally ignores it, except when they
really have to mention it after some notable daily movement. I just observe
that gold is not YET an accepted part of main stream Wall Street thought.


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