Gold is on the rise. The commodity has seen a dramatic surge over the past two months since hitting bottom in late June. Investing in the metal itself or in a fund like SPDR Gold Trust Shares (NYSE: GLD) are both great ways to play this trend. But considering the historic lows that we’ve seen in gold producers, even bigger… Read More

Gold is on the rise. The commodity has seen a dramatic surge over the past two months since hitting bottom in late June. Investing in the metal itself or in a fund like SPDR Gold Trust Shares (NYSE: GLD) are both great ways to play this trend. But considering the historic lows that we’ve seen in gold producers, even bigger gains could be made by investing in gold miners. One of the easiest ways to do this is through the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDX). Right now, GDX is the cheapest it’s been since 2008. David Einhorn, the billionaire fund manager, is one of the biggest GDX shareholders. His hedge fund Greenlight Capital currently owns 8.8 million shares, making him the fund’s fifth-largest institutional… Read More

As the market reaches near record highs, it’s becoming harder to find value.  Historically, the average price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of the S&P 500 is about 15.  Today, the average is 19. Read More

In 1990, in a suburb outside of Boston, something unusual happened…#-ad_banner-# As part of their schoolwork, seventh graders at the St. Agnes School in Arlington, Mass. were asked to pick stocks for a model portfolio. In the following two years, the students’… Read More

Regular StreetAuthority readers have probably heard us talk about “Forever Stocks” before. These are stocks of solid, blue-chip companies that pay rising dividends and hold sustainable competitive advantages. The idea is that you can essentially buy them, forget about them, and hold them… Read More

Warren Buffett, the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A), is currently worth about $44 billion, according to Forbes’ list of the world’s richest people. This makes him the world’s third-richest person, behind Bill Gates and Carlos Slim. Read More

During the 1849 California gold rush, the yellow metal sold for between $12 and $35 an ounce. That was enough in those days to make you rich — if you could find it. But consider this: Because the Western frontier was undeveloped at the time, the price of basic goods for these intrepid miners was through the roof. Eggs cost $3 each. A bottle of whiskey cost $16. According to “The Gold Rush Chronicles,” a history of the period: “Pills were $10 each without advice, $100 with.”#-ad_banner-# You may already be familiar with the story of Levi Strauss, the German… Read More

During the 1849 California gold rush, the yellow metal sold for between $12 and $35 an ounce. That was enough in those days to make you rich — if you could find it. But consider this: Because the Western frontier was undeveloped at the time, the price of basic goods for these intrepid miners was through the roof. Eggs cost $3 each. A bottle of whiskey cost $16. According to “The Gold Rush Chronicles,” a history of the period: “Pills were $10 each without advice, $100 with.”#-ad_banner-# You may already be familiar with the story of Levi Strauss, the German immigrant who made his fortune during the gold rush — not by striking gold, but by supplying the rough-and-tumble miners with sturdy denim overalls. The origin of the term “picks and shovels” may have had its roots back in the 1850s when smart businessmen like Strauss realized they could make just as much money with a lot less risk supplying the miners with picks, shovels and other essentials. Today, we can use the same idea to our advantage by… Read More

With a return of 43.9% over the past year, Fortress Investment Group (NYSE: FIG) is currently the top-performing mutual fund on the market. The company began operations as a private equity firm in 1998 with $400 million under management. Between 1999 and 2006, the firm averaged a return of 39%. And today, operating as a mutual fund, the group manages more than $54 billion. The… Read More

With a return of 43.9% over the past year, Fortress Investment Group (NYSE: FIG) is currently the top-performing mutual fund on the market. The company began operations as a private equity firm in 1998 with $400 million under management. Between 1999 and 2006, the firm averaged a return of 39%. And today, operating as a mutual fund, the group manages more than $54 billion. The fund‘s success merits a closer look, and while reviewing the company’s portfolio, I made a surprising discovery. Most mutual funds tend to maintain a more conservative portfolio of holdings that encompass a wide variety of market sectors. And most fund’s largest holding rarely makes up more than 25% of the portfolio. But Fortress is different. In fact, in the company’s current holdings, just one stock makes up 43% of the overall portfolio. Fortress owns more than 67 million shares of this company — a… Read More

Just a few days ago, prosecutors in New York issued indictments in what is being described as the biggest computer hacking scheme in U.S. history. Paul Fishman, the U.S. attorney for New Jersey, was quoted by Bloomberg describing a “worldwide scheme that targeted major corporate networks, stole more than 160… Read More

It’s a story that hasn’t gotten a whole lot of press recently, but U.S. banks are doing well. Very well. Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) shares hit an all-time high on July 8. The other three large U.S. banks are also on the rise: Citigroup (NYSE: C) is up 25%, Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) is up 14%, and JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) is up 24%. The reason? Put simply, banks make… Read More

It’s a story that hasn’t gotten a whole lot of press recently, but U.S. banks are doing well. Very well. Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) shares hit an all-time high on July 8. The other three large U.S. banks are also on the rise: Citigroup (NYSE: C) is up 25%, Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) is up 14%, and JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) is up 24%. The reason? Put simply, banks make money by borrowing at a low rate and lending at a high rate. The rates being offered for the average savings account are next to nothing these days. Yet banks are able to turn around and issue loans to businesses and individual customers for rates of 4% to 5%. This difference is called the interest rate spread. On top of that, banks are able to loan many times the amount… Read More

In investing, there is one rule that supersedes all others. And this rule should be the first thing you consider when building the core holdings in your portfolio. Legendary investor Warren Buffett put it best: “Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Don’t forget rule No. 1.” There is no sure thing in investing, and every investment comes with certain risks. However, today I would like to… Read More

In investing, there is one rule that supersedes all others. And this rule should be the first thing you consider when building the core holdings in your portfolio. Legendary investor Warren Buffett put it best: “Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Don’t forget rule No. 1.” There is no sure thing in investing, and every investment comes with certain risks. However, today I would like to share with you five funds that I believe are some of the safest, most stable investments on the market.#-ad_banner-# But first, let’s take a look at the investment that most people consider the benchmark of safety: U.S. Treasury bonds. Treasurys are considered the safest investments in the world because the U.S. government has never defaulted on any debt it has… Read More