Most Popular
1. Banking Crisis is Stocks Bull Market Buying Opportunity - Nadeem_Walayat
2.The Crypto Signal for the Precious Metals Market - P_Radomski_CFA
3. One Possible Outcome to a New World Order - Raymond_Matison
4.Nvidia Blow Off Top - Flying High like the Phoenix too Close to the Sun - Nadeem_Walayat
5. Apple AAPL Stock Trend and Earnings Analysis - Nadeem_Walayat
6.AI, Stocks, and Gold Stocks – Connected After All - P_Radomski_CFA
7.Stock Market CHEAT SHEET - - Nadeem_Walayat
8.US Debt Ceiling Crisis Smoke and Mirrors Circus - Nadeem_Walayat
9.Silver Price May Explode - Avi_Gilburt
10.More US Banks Could Collapse -- A Lot More- EWI
Last 7 days
Stock Market Volatility (VIX) - 25th Mar 24
Stock Market Investor Sentiment - 25th Mar 24
The Federal Reserve Didn't Do Anything But It Had Plenty to Say - 25th Mar 24
Stock Market Breadth - 24th Mar 24
Stock Market Margin Debt Indicator - 24th Mar 24
It’s Easy to Scream Stocks Bubble! - 24th Mar 24
Stocks: What to Make of All This Insider Selling- 24th Mar 24
Money Supply Continues To Fall, Economy Worsens – Investors Don’t Care - 24th Mar 24
Get an Edge in the Crypto Market with Order Flow - 24th Mar 24
US Presidential Election Cycle and Recessions - 18th Mar 24
US Recession Already Happened in 2022! - 18th Mar 24
AI can now remember everything you say - 18th Mar 24
Bitcoin Crypto Mania 2024 - MicroStrategy MSTR Blow off Top! - 14th Mar 24
Bitcoin Gravy Train Trend Forecast 2024 - 11th Mar 24
Gold and the Long-Term Inflation Cycle - 11th Mar 24
Fed’s Next Intertest Rate Move might not align with popular consensus - 11th Mar 24
Two Reasons The Fed Manipulates Interest Rates - 11th Mar 24
US Dollar Trend 2024 - 9th Mar 2024
The Bond Trade and Interest Rates - 9th Mar 2024
Investors Don’t Believe the Gold Rally, Still Prefer General Stocks - 9th Mar 2024
Paper Gold Vs. Real Gold: It's Important to Know the Difference - 9th Mar 2024
Stocks: What This "Record Extreme" Indicator May Be Signaling - 9th Mar 2024
My 3 Favorite Trade Setups - Elliott Wave Course - 9th Mar 2024
Bitcoin Crypto Bubble Mania! - 4th Mar 2024
US Interest Rates - When WIll the Fed Pivot - 1st Mar 2024
S&P Stock Market Real Earnings Yield - 29th Feb 2024
US Unemployment is a Fake Statistic - 29th Feb 2024
U.S. financial market’s “Weimar phase” impact to your fiat and digital assets - 29th Feb 2024
What a Breakdown in Silver Mining Stocks! What an Opportunity! - 29th Feb 2024
Why AI will Soon become SA - Synthetic Intelligence - The Machine Learning Megatrend - 29th Feb 2024
Keep Calm and Carry on Buying Quantum AI Tech Stocks - 19th Feb 24

Market Oracle FREE Newsletter

How to Protect your Wealth by Investing in AI Tech Stocks

How to Prepare for and Profit From the Stalled U.S. Debt Limit Talks

Interest-Rates / US Debt Jul 24, 2011 - 06:14 AM GMT

By: Investment_U

Interest-Rates

Best Financial Markets Analysis ArticleMarc Lichtenfeld writes: Last November, I wrote about how to protect yourself from an impending crash that would take place this year – if the threat of failure to raise the debt ceiling seemed real.

As of right now, most people expect some resolution to be reached in the next few weeks before the August 2 debt-hike deadline.


And while our politicians act like stubborn, self-centered toddlers, only concerned with getting what they want rather than solving America’s problems – they’re not stupid (well, most of them aren’t). They know that not raising the debt ceiling will have catastrophic consequences on our financial system and millions of Americans.

However, we can’t have blinders on assuming everything is going to be just fine. We need to be prepared for a black swan event (a major event that’s unexpected)…

The Political Game of Chicken Endures

Should the Republicans decide that bringing down President Obama is more important than ensuring the safety of our financial system, or should the Democrats refuse to cut spending or give on taxes in order to pin the failure on the Republicans, the political game of chicken could cause severe pain in the financial markets.

So far, the markets don’t seem overly concerned. If they were, they wouldn’t be near their highs.

I’m keeping a close eye on the financial sector. Big investment banks  have been weak and have all dropped recently, in particular:

  • Bank of America (NYSE: BAC)
  • Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS)
  • Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS)

If people become seriously worried about default, it wouldn’t shock me to see a run on the banks, 1930s style. Hopefully, that’s not what the weakness in the banks and other financials are telling us…

With Washington’s Continued Ineptitude… Add These Investments To Your Radar

You’ll never see me acting like one of those pundits who constantly tell you the world is coming to an end and that you should load up on gold, ammo and canned goods and move to the mountains.

But, it’s worth your time to at least consider the possibility of a financial calamity being brought on by ineptitude in Washington.

I don’t recommend selling your entire portfolio in order to put it into “safe” assets. However, the following types of investments should be on your radar, just in case.

  • Gold: The yellow metal is already hot because of momentum and the large number of people who think the world is coming to an end. The threat of default will likely see a surge of gold buying. Silver too, although I’ve argued that gold should outperform silver.
  • Non-dollar denominated assets: Although interest rates will spike on a default, the dollar will likely plunge in value. Investing in currencies of countries with plentiful natural resources is a safer bet. Consider Canada or Australia. One way of doing so is with EverBank WorldCurrency CDs.* You can invest in a CD based in the Canadian or Australian dollars, or other currencies including baskets that include several at a time.

I also still like the recommendations from the article in November,  which included two ways to short treasuries:

  • Gold: The resilient precious metal should soar as the U.S. dollar sinks and investors flee to safety. If you don’t want to own the metal itself, you can buy the SPDR Gold Shares Trust (NYSE: GLD) ETF, which serves as a close proxy to the price of gold bullion.
  • Short Treasuries (Option 1): Consider the ProShares Short 20+ Year Treasury (NYSE: TBF), which aims for a 100 percent inverse correlation to the Barclays 20+ Year U.S. Treasury Bond Index.
  • Short Treasuries (Option 2): If you’re a more aggressive investor, take a look at the ProShares UltraShort 20+ Year Treasury (NYSE: TBT). It seeks to obtain results that are double the inverse daily performance of the Barclays 20+ Year U.S. Treasury Bond Index. So if the index falls 10 percent, the ETF should gain about 20 percent.

It’s Time to Identify Quality Stocks Now…

As you can see, I’m not a nervous Nelly. Nor am I a nattering nabob of negativity. In fact, I’m using this time to identify stocks that I’ll be interested in if they come down in a Washington-induced crash.

If such a slide occurs, it could be short lived, after a solution is agreed upon. I want to be buying into a panic. So start looking for quality companies that can continue to do well in any environment.

Good investing,

Marc Lichtenfeld

*Note: Investment U has a commercial relationship with EverBank.

Source : http://www.investmentu.com/2011/July/prepare-and-benefit-from-stalled-debt-limit-talks.html

Marc Lichtenfeld

Editor’s Note: But what if you don’t have the time to put together a stock watchlist for yourself, or don’t even know where to look? That’s where The Oxford Club comes in. We’ll do the work for you, showing you what stocks to buy and when to buy them. Not only that, the Club offers something for every investor – from stock market newcomers to seasoned veterans – and provides ample opportunity to diversify through several model portfolios. Take a look at the full list of benefits that you’ll receive when you become a member of The Oxford Club.

Copyright © 1999 - 2008 by The Oxford Club, L.L.C All Rights Reserved. Protected by copyright laws of the United States and international treaties. Any reproduction, copying, or redistribution (electronic or otherwise, including on the world wide web), of content from this website, in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited without the express written permission of Investment U, Attn: Member Services , 105 West Monument Street, Baltimore, MD 21201 Email: CustomerService@InvestmentU.com

Disclaimer: Investment U Disclaimer: Nothing published by Investment U should be considered personalized investment advice. Although our employees may answer your general customer service questions, they are not licensed under securities laws to address your particular investment situation. No communication by our employees to you should be deemed as personalized investment advice. We expressly forbid our writers from having a financial interest in any security recommended to our readers. All of our employees and agents must wait 24 hours after on-line publication or 72 hours after the mailing of printed-only publication prior to following an initial recommendation. Any investments recommended by Investment U should be made only after consulting with your investment advisor and only after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company.

Investment U Archive

© 2005-2022 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.


Post Comment

Only logged in users are allowed to post comments. Register/ Log in