{"id":44256,"date":"2013-11-17T20:19:06","date_gmt":"2013-11-18T01:19:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/countingpips.com\/forex-news\/?p=44256"},"modified":"2013-11-17T20:19:06","modified_gmt":"2013-11-18T01:19:06","slug":"how-to-avoid-being-a-stock-market-loser-in-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/2013\/11\/17\/how-to-avoid-being-a-stock-market-loser-in-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Avoid Being a \u2018Stock Market Loser\u2019 in 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By <a href=\"http:\/\/www.MoneyMorning.com.au\" target=\"_blank\"><u>MoneyMorning.com.au<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;re  bullish on the <strong>stock market<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>But  we&#8217;re not your average bull.<\/p>\n<p>We  don&#8217;t cheerlead for <strong>stocks<\/strong> to go higher&#8230;but we would certainly <em>like<\/em> them to go higher&#8230;and we <em>hope<\/em> they&#8217;ll go higher.<\/p>\n<p>But  if we ever find ourselves getting over-excited about <a href=\"http:\/\/www.moneymorning.com.au\/category\/stock-market\/stocks-and-bonds\" title=\"more on stocks\">stocks<\/a> and falling for the  idea that stocks can only ever go up, we make sure to check out the mainstream  press.<\/p>\n<p>We  usually find something to snap us back to reality.<\/p>\n<p>Thankfully  an article on <em>Bloomberg<\/em> did the job  nicely. It reminded us of the naivety of the mainstream and why we shouldn&#8217;t  take this stock rally for granted&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>As  you should know by now, your editor is just as bullish as anyone in the mainstream.<\/p>\n<p>To be  honest, we&#8217;d say we&#8217;re <em>more<\/em> bullish  than anyone in the mainstream. We don&#8217;t recall seeing anyone anywhere else  sticking a 7,000 point target on the S&amp;P\/ASX 200 by 2015.<\/p>\n<p>In  fact, that&#8217;s the key difference.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;re  bullish because we know central banks will keep interest rates low (hello, the  European Central Bank just cut its benchmark rate to 0.25%). These interest rates will continue to ignite a rocket under <strong>stock <\/strong>and other asset prices.<\/p>\n<p>Because  of that you&#8217;ll see a monumental, height-defying rally (some call it a &#8216;melt-up&#8217;  boom) that will ultimately end in an almighty crash.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s  why we&#8217;re bullish. The mainstream is bullish for another reason&#8230;<\/p>\n<h2>If  You Don&#8217;t See it, it Doesn&#8217;t Exist<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p>Whereas  we get the big picture of how central banks are slowly destroying economies and  national currencies, the dopes in the mainstream think the central banks are  helping economies.<\/p>\n<p>A  classic example is in the <em>Bloomberg<\/em> article we mentioned earlier. The subject of the article is gold and inflation.  It also refers to attempts by US Republicans to get the US dollar back on a  gold standard or at least for the US Federal Reserve to track the value of the  dollar relative to gold and other commodities:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8216;<em>&ldquo;<\/em>[Measuring inflation against commodity  prices is]<em> a stupid idea,&rdquo; Joseph Gagnon,  a former Fed economist, said in an interview. &ldquo;It&#8217;s pretty clear the Fed thinks  so, too, since they do the opposite. They go out of their way to exclude  commodities.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&#8216;<em>Gagnon, now with the Peterson Institute for  International Economics in Washington, says the Fed tracks most closely &ldquo;core&rdquo;  inflation readings that exclude often-volatile commodities.<\/em>&#8216;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Comments  such as that show the mainstream don&#8217;t quite get what&#8217;s going on. It&#8217;s the  proverbial head in the sand approach &#8211; &#8216;If we don&#8217;t acknowledge certain rising  prices, then they don&#8217;t exist.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s  why the US inflation rate is deceptively low. The Fed omits volatile items when  it calculates consumer price inflation. It just happens that the volatile items  include food and fuel &#8211; perhaps <em>the<\/em> two most important everyday purchases for any consumer.<\/p>\n<p>By  not admitting this, the mainstream can continue to believe that things are  fine. They must be fine, because all the fear mongering about money printing  leading to inflation just isn&#8217;t true &#8211; look at the consumer price index! You  get the picture.<\/p>\n<p>And  that&#8217;s not all.<\/p>\n<p>Because  they believe <a href=\"http:\/\/www.moneymorning.com.au\/economy\" title=\"more on the economy\">the economy<\/a> is returning to normal, they&#8217;ve also gotten into  thinking that the Fed and other central banks will start raising interest  rates, which will slow <a href=\"http:\/\/www.moneymorning.com.au\/stock-market\" title=\"more on the stock market\">stock market<\/a> growth. So you&#8217;ll just get normal stock market gains.<\/p>\n<p>Fools.<\/p>\n<h2>The Market is Riskier Than 2007<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p>So  our bet is that the speed at which the market goes up will take most in the  mainstream by surprise.<\/p>\n<p>They  just won&#8217;t see it coming. They&#8217;ll <a href=\"http:\/\/www.moneymorning.com.au\/20110212\/how-to-buy-and-sell-shares.html\" title=\"how to buy stocks\">buy stocks<\/a> expecting to get 5-10% annual  growth, only to end up getting 15-20% annual growth over the next two years.  And because this move will surprise them, they&#8217;ll foolishly think the boom has  just begun, which will cause them to put everything they&#8217;ve got into the  market.<\/p>\n<p>Trouble  is, by then the boom could be at its peak. At that point a major bust is more  likely than a continued boom.<\/p>\n<p>But  that&#8217;s all speculation. You can never know for sure until it happens.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s  why despite his largely bearish view on the market, our old pal Dan Denning  advised his readers to buy one particular stock that could benefit from rising  stock prices.<\/p>\n<p>Like  your editor, Dan understands that buying any stock right now is a speculation.  So he gave his readers this warning in the <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/pro1.portphillippublishing.com.au\/164548\/\">latest issue  of <em>The Denning Report<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8216;<em>I don&#8217;t want you to think that since I&#8217;m  recommending a stock to profit in 2014, I&#8217;m sanguine about the risks in the  financial system.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&#8216;<em>I&#8217;m anything but. In fact, the world&#8217;s  financial system could be even <strong>more<\/strong> fragile and risky today than it was in 2007. For starters, debt as a percentage  of GDP is even larger than at the beginning of the crisis.<\/em>&#8216;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2>Japan&#8217;s Lesson for Australian Investors<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ll  go one step further than Dan. We&#8217;ll say that the financial system <strong><u>is<\/u><\/strong> even more fragile and risky  today than it was in 2007.<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s  no doubt about that in our mind. That&#8217;s what makes stock investing so tricky  for investors today. You <a href=\"http:\/\/www.moneymorning.com.au\/category\/investments\/how-to-invest\" title=\"how to invest\">have to invest<\/a> because, despite what the official  inflation statistics say, central banks and governments are devaluing your  wealth.<\/p>\n<p>If  you fall for their propaganda and believe that a low bank deposit rate is fine  because inflation is low, you&#8217;re heading for a rude shock. On the flip side, if  you know they&#8217;re &#8216;fixing&#8217; the inflation figures but you won&#8217;t play stocks because you think it&#8217;s too risky, we&#8217;re afraid to say <em>you&#8217;re<\/em> heading for a rude shock too.<\/p>\n<p>There  was much wailing and gnashing of teeth when Japan devalued its currency last  year. Many claimed it was devaluing Japanese wealth. And it was. But only for  those Japanese who refused to <strong>invest in stocks<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Over  the past year the Japanese Nikkei225 index is up 68%. That is more than enough  to outweigh the devaluation of the yen. <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/pro1.portphillippublishing.com.au\/164546\/\">It was a good  time to own stocks<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Those  who missed out were the poor who couldn&#8217;t invest and the stubborn who refused  to invest. So far, both groups have turned out to be big losers in the  central bankers&#8217; game.&nbsp; <\/p>\n<p>If  the same thing plays out in the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.moneymorning.com.au\/category\/stock-market\/australian-share-market-stocks\" title=\"more on the Australian market\">Australian market<\/a> (which is almost certain), the  last thing you want as an investor is to stay on the sidelines. The stock  market may not be pretty right now, but if you want any chance of growing your  wealth over the next two years <a href=\"http:\/\/pro1.portphillippublishing.com.au\/164546\/\">it&#8217;s the best chance you&#8217;ve got<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cheers,<br \/>\n  Kris<a href=\"https:\/\/plus.google.com\/u\/1\/102832084048340347143\/about\">+<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Special Report: <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/pro1.portphillippublishing.com.au\/164546\/\">The &#8216;Wonder Weld&#8217; That Could Triple Your  Money<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/plus.google.com\/106516983215198267222\/about\" title=\"Join Money Morning on Google Plus -- and read about the things we can't always fit into our regular essays\"><u>Join Money Morning on Google+ <\/u><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"feedflare\">\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/MoneyMorningAustralia?a=NrGLP1M9UUM:cGsBS1j79NQ:yIl2AUoC8zA\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/MoneyMorningAustralia?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/MoneyMorningAustralia?a=NrGLP1M9UUM:cGsBS1j79NQ:V_sGLiPBpWU\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/MoneyMorningAustralia?i=NrGLP1M9UUM:cGsBS1j79NQ:V_sGLiPBpWU\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/MoneyMorningAustralia?a=NrGLP1M9UUM:cGsBS1j79NQ:gIN9vFwOqvQ\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/MoneyMorningAustralia?i=NrGLP1M9UUM:cGsBS1j79NQ:gIN9vFwOqvQ\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/MoneyMorningAustralia\/~4\/NrGLP1M9UUM\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\" \/><br \/>\nBy <a href=\"http:\/\/www.MoneyMorning.com.au\" target=\"_blank\"><u>MoneyMorning.com.au<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By MoneyMorning.com.au We&#8217;re bullish on the stock market. But we&#8217;re not your average bull. We don&#8217;t cheerlead for stocks to go higher&#8230;but we would certainly like them to go higher&#8230;and we hope they&#8217;ll go higher. But if we ever find ourselves getting over-excited about stocks and falling for the idea that stocks can only ever &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/2013\/11\/17\/how-to-avoid-being-a-stock-market-loser-in-2014\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;How to Avoid Being a \u2018Stock Market Loser\u2019 in 2014&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44256\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}