Market Links

Are you trying to become a more successful trader or investor? I know I am.

My friend JCV has a blog called MarketLinks.org that provides great resources, information, and commentary, covering many investing and trading subjects. JCV’s goal is to facilitate trader and investor education by providing a wealth of information we can use to increase our success.

Some topics you can read about at Market Links include:

  • Investing
  • Trading Mutual Funds
  • Commodities and Futures
  • Risk Management
  • and more

I highly recommend checking out MarketLinks.org – you’re guaranteed to learn something new or find a link to a useful website. Leave JCV a comment!

Gold

As we all know, gold commodities have been extremely hot lately. On Wednesday, gold, silver, and oil prices surged, much to the delight of commodities traders and investors.

Commodity: GOLD
Price: 636.00
Today’s change: +12.70

US Mint Gold Coins GOLD Gold, a precious metal, is hot. Gold prices have been steadily increasing for months now. The reasons are many: rising oil prices, weakened US dollar in currency markets (forex trading), the strength of China’s and India’s economies, and many other reasons.

In a previous post, Buying Gold, I had said the price of gold in my opinion was inflated. Now I’m eating my words. Gold has surged 91 points since my previous post on February 17, 2006. Incredible. With the strength of gold, and current economic situations, I see positive upside for gold investments.

Since February, I have done a lot of research on gold investments, particularly on gold coins. I currently do not own any gold coins or investments, but I am hoping to start buying very soon. My favorite coins are the American Gold Eagle by the US Mint and the Canadian Gold Maple minted by the Royal Canadian Mint. Both coins come in varying weights, but I’m primarily interested in the 1 ounce coins. Both coins look fantastic, in addition to their value. The American Gold Eagle is 91.67% fine gold. The Canadian Gold Maple is the most pure coin on the market, at 99.99% fine gold. Generally speaking, the price of gold coins will be slightly higher than gold bars, due to the artistry and minting involved.

Related links:

Eye on China Internet Stocks

I have been watching Chinese internet stocks recently. The China stocks I am most interested in are: SOHU, SINA, and BIDU.

The growth of internet users in China is tremendous. Some estimates place the number of people online in China at just under the number of internet users in the US. Other estimates say China has now surpassed the US in online users, making China the country with the most online internet users.

So where are Chinese people browsing to? The answers are baidu.com, sina.com.cn, and sohu.com.

According to Alexa, all 3 of these websites are in the global Top 10 of all websites. This means each of these websites gets enormous amounts of traffic. For online businesses, this means they can show lots of ads and promote their own pay services and products.

Each of these websites gets more web visitors (or “hits”) than Amazon.com or Microsoft.com. Wow.

Here’s a breakdown of the web rankings, web traffic graphs, and stock charts for SOHU, SINA, and BIDU:

Symbol: SOHU, global web rank: #9

SOHU web traffic graph:
sohu.com web traffic graph
SOHU 1 month stock chart:
SOHU stock chart

Symbol: SINA, global web rank: #6

SINA web traffic graph:
sina.com.cn web traffic graph
SINA 1 month stock chart:
SINA stock chart

Symbol: BIDU, global web rank: #4

BIDU web traffic graph:
baidu.com web traffic graph
BIDU 1 month stock chart:
BIDU stock chart
Anyone else watching these stocks? I personally would like to get a good entry on SOHU and SINA. My opinion is that BIDU is bloated right now and should dip some more, then BIDU will also be in a price range I would buy at.

My trade for SOHU, SINA, and BIDU stocks would be a swing trade or longer term investment, not a quick daytrade.

Google Founders Keep $1 Salary

Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have turned down a raise and instead decided to rely on the success of GOOG (Google) stock. Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin each have a $1 salary. In addition, Google CEO Eric Schmidt turned down a raise, also sticking to his $1 salary and stock options. Read the entire CNN article: Google leaders stick with $1 salary

I wish more CEOs and overpaid executives would take this approach. By keeping a $1 salary, the Google leaders are completely relying on the performance of GOOG stock prices to make them money. Shareholders love this because the Google execs have to think about their own fortunes – about $5 billion for Schmidt and over $12 billion each for Page and Brin – when running Google. If Google fails, they lose everything. Also, Google’s revenues and profits are not foolishly spent on over-abundant salaries, like some other publicly traded companies.

By keeping a $1 salary, the Google co-founders are letting shareholders know they are looking out for best interest of the shareholders. The $1 salary with options is also a way of telling shareholders Google has a profitable and successful future with steady leadership.

I’m a huge fan of Google as stock and as a company with innovative, useful, and efficient products and tools. Unfortunatley, I don’t currently own any GOOG shares. I am kicking myself for not buying in at the GOOG $340 price dip!

What are your thoughts on the $1 salary? Any Google shareholders out there?

Buying Gold

I’ve heard a lot of talk about gold the past few months. Some people are predicting gold at $750 per ounce, while others are predicting some outrageous prices such as $3000 per ounce. Gold currently stands at about $545 per ounce.

US Mint Gold Coins A smart investment decision would be to keep some – not all and not a large percentage of your investments – in gold. At $545 an ounce, I think the price may be inflated a little and I personally would wait for a better entry price, under $500 and closer to $400 per ounce.

Many people I talk to would like to purchase gold bullion but do not know where or how to purchase it. Once place where you can buy gold online is Kitco, an online gold buyer and seller marketplace. The gold prices at Kitco are slightly inflated so that they can make their business profits, but the inflation is minimal. And, Kitco will send you the actual gold coins or bullion bricks you purchase. You are not purchasing gold stored in a vault somewhere, you’re purchasing gold that you can put in your own safe. Or, if you so desire, you can bury it like a pirate.

I have a friend who is in his early twenties who has been purchasing gold coins every month since the day he was born. His father purchased the gold coins for him when he was a baby and still growing, until my friend had the ability to purchase gold coins on his own. Needless to say, he now has a solid financial foundation. He has also made some good profits since he began 20 years ago, if he were to sell all his coins today.

Setting aside part of your paycheck to purchase a few gold coins each pay period has two advantages. First, you’re building a financial foundation of real assets that will grow over time. Gold’s greatest reward comes with long term investing. Secondly, you’re diversifying your investment portfolio. Investing and trading is not strictly about stocks. Investments and trades take many forms, including stocks, bonds, mutual funds, bank accounts, gold, other precious metals, real estate, and business ventures. Diversifying your investments secures your financial future.

Let me make this clear, I am NOT saying you should put all your savings and money into gold. I’m saying you should buy gold as my friend has done. Buy few coins a month, each month. As the old saying goes “slow and steady wins the race.” Sure, you can put all your money into a penny stock and hope it goes up 1000%, but that’s foolish and illogical thinking. Growing your investments takes time and a clearly defined financial strategy. Gold should be included in your investment planning and strategy.

Update:

A friend just told me the Kitco website was down. Quite unfortunate as this has been a realiable website for me in the past, mostly to get gold and precious metals prices from.

Another online gold buying and selling website you can use is A-Mark Precious Metals. You can also get free gold and precious metal price quotes from A-Mark if you’re not interested in purchasing.

Yet another website for gold price charts, gold news, and other information is TheBullionDesk.