“There are no new eras-excesses are never permanent.”
-BOB FARRELL, famed market technician

POINTS TO PONDER

1. The economic forecasting firm ECRI, which has built one of the most accurate predictive records in the field, is still calling for a US recession. However, this view is looking increasingly premature and now its leading index is showing notable improvement.

“Be patient and wait for markets to come to you.  Patience is a position, too.”
-JOHN MAULDIN , one of America’s most popular financial newsletter authors

Will the “Curse of the Cover Story” strike again?  Sometimes a magazine cover is worth a thousand words—and hundreds of thousands in wealth preservation. 

“Gold to me is not a commodity. It’s money.”
-JIM GRANT, author of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer, in a CNBC feature interview this week with Maria Bartiromo.

POINTS TO PONDER

1.  Although the US mortgage market is no longer a systemic threat, student loan debt is emerging as a smaller,

“The higher the stock market advances, the more reason there is to mistrust its future action.  Hence, a large advance…is basically a sign for caution and not a reason for confidence.”
-BEN GRAHAM; GENERALLY CONSIDERED THE FATHER OF SECURITY ANALYSIS AND CREATOR OF THE GRAHAM-DODD P/E RATIO. 

The Oracles’s oracle.

“Inflation is a more fundamental danger than speculative investment.  Some countries seem to be in the unusual situation where they are trying to create inflation. They will come to regret that.” 
-PAUL VOLCKER, FORMER FED CHAIRMAN, IN A RECENT INTERVIEW

POINTS TO PONDER

1.  One of last week’s big news items was the stunning announcement that the Bank of Japan (BoJ) intends to double its monetary base.