Although the Dow, NASDAQ and S& P 500 all gained over 3% on Thursday, triggering predictions that the correction is over, I remained unconvinced. Everything I witnessed this week has only persuaded me that we are going lower.

The stock market’s sell-off this week amidst high volatility has triggered worries among investors that we were heading right back into those bad old days of 2008-2009. Those fears are understandable given that for the first time since the markets bottomed in March of 2009, we are having our first official correction.

“This is a nightmare,” said one trader this week as the stock market spiraled downward in what appeared to be free-fall panic. For those who kept their cool, it appears to me that once again the markets are providing us with another buying opportunity.

I forecasted gold would rise to a price of between $1,200 and $1,300/ounce back in October, 2009 (“All that Glitters”). This week gold hit $1,250/ounce before falling back. I think the precious metal needs a break, call it a period of consolidation, before resuming its move higher.

It has been some time since investors have experienced the kind of volatility that has afflicted the global stock markets over the last two weeks. The best thing I can say for the present down draft is that it is happening rather quickly. Hopefully, by the middle of this week it will be time to [...]

Whether it’s real life earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, or make believe “end of the world” themes like the mother of all blizzards in the movie “The Day after Tomorrow”, we devour stories recounting the human pain and misery that accompanies these disasters. What we fail to realize, however, are the cumulative costs of weather and natural [...]

Beneath the rough, weather-roiled waves of the Gulf, blue fin tuna and other species of ocean life are spawning right now. Above those schools, a river of oil has depleted oxygen in the water. The tuna and their young are forced to the surface for more oxygen. As they break the surface, the thick, reddish [...]

Granted, it was a historical 20 minutes or so. Never in my thirty years of investing around the globe had I experienced quite the downdraft the markets incurred on Thursday. But to dismiss that drop as a computer glitch or someone pressing the “B” for billion instead of “M” for million button on his keypad, [...]

My column last week “Why Greece Matters to You” should be hitting home about now. Since then, the subject of Europe, the Club Med nations and Greece, in particular, has taken over the front pages of just about every media publication in the world. While I believe the Club Med crisis in Europe is a [...]