5 Trades to Prepare for the Coming Global Recession

In a piece we wrote last week, we argued that the U.S. economy was about to enter Japanese style prolonged stagnation. Further evidence coming out on Tuesday morning that showed an unexpected decline of .20 percent in consumer spending raises the prospect that the U.S. economy will enter a double-dip recession rather just a mere stagnation — pushing a fragile Europe and Japan into recession; and slowing down China’s and Korea’s growth substantially.

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Netflix, Open Table: The Perils of Not Owning Content

Open Table (OPEN) and Netflix (NFLX) have been the poster children of web-based businesses that captured and captivated the minds and the wallets of the momentum crowd that chased after their stocks. For more than a year, the stocks of both companies reached for heaven but couldn’t get there. So they have been falling back to earth, though Open Table has been falling at a faster pace, especially after Tuesday’s disappointing report that sent the stock sharply lower in the after market hours. Does it mean that Netflix will share the same faith with Open Table?

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Are Silver and Energy Parting Paths with Gold?

Are silver and energy parting paths with gold?

For more than a year, gold, silver, and energy have been trading in tandem (all ascending to the moon), propelled by record low short-term rates, two rounds of quantitative easing, a falling dollar, and the economic recovery—all feeding and re-enforcing inflationary expectations: SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) has gained 20 percent in the last year and 16.9 percent in the last three years; iShares Silver Trust (SLV) has gained 85.33 percent in one year and 25.3 percent over 3 years; Oil Service Holders Trust (OIH) has gained 62.3 percent over the last year, but lost 10.82 percent in the last three years.

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