UBS’s Cashin explains why the stocks with the heaviest short are likely to “crumble if they keep moving up.”

One in 10 U.S. Households rented a storage unit in 2009. That number grew from one in 17 in 1995. 

Self-storage: The Poster Child for America’s Addiction to Excess. ‘

10 Tips to Stop Overspending

Soros Reports Over $239mm In Gold Positions, Buys $25mm In Call Options On Juniors

In a 13-F release issued by the SEC after market close yesterday, it was reported that Soros Fund Management LLC, founded and chaired by billionaire financier George Soros, significantly increased its gold related holdings, most notably, through the purchase of over $25 million dollars worth of call options on the GDXJ Junior Gold Miners index.

……read more HERE

The entire financial management industry is a profit-skimming rentier arrangement.

According to the folks at the Motley Fool, only ten of the ten thousand actively managed mutual funds available managed to beat the S&P 500 consistently over the course of the past ten years.Consider the following: a quick glance at Yahoo Finance reveals the average expense ratio for growth and income style mutual funds is 1.29%. As a result, approximately $1,883 of every $10,000 invested over the course of ten years will go to the fund company in the form of expenses. Compare that to the Vanguard 500 fund, designed to mirror the S&P 500 index, which boasts an annual expense ratio of only 0.12%, resulting in ten-year compounded expense of $154 for every $10,000 invested.

For some perspective on the all-important earnings environment, today’s chart illustrates ‘as reported’ S&P 500 earnings growth (i.e. 12-month rate of change) since 1940. There are a couple of points of interest. For one, earnings growth has tended to peak in the 20 to 40% range and trough somewhere in the -10 to -20% range. At least that was the case up until this millennium. Since the dot-com crash (i.e. the 2001 – 2002 timeframe), earnings growth volatility has increased dramatically. In fact, the post-financial crisis spike to 793% is not even shown on today’s chart so as to allow the rest of the data to remain visible (i.e. not flattened out). It is worth noting that this historic post-financial crisis earnings growth spike is due in large part to the fact that earnings came in so low as a result of the financial crisis. That said, earnings growth has dipped into negative territory for the first time since the financial crisis.

Notes:
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May 15, 2013 – Cannes Film Festival begins (ends May 26th)
May 18, 2013 – Preakness Stakes – Armed Forces Day
May 20, 2013 – Victoria Day (Canada)
May 21, 2013 – French Open tennis tournament begins (ends June 9th)
May 26, 2013 – Indianapolis 500
May 27, 2013 – Memorial Day (observed)

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