When you invest in the oil sector, you're taking a stake in an industry that everyone needs -- so you need to know how to track these unique investments, when they change, and why.
The US economy ebbs and flows with the oil industry. Then again, ...
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What the Dow Jones Shakeup Says About Market Preferences
The Dow Jones Industrial Average -- the storied aggregation of 30 blue-chip industrial and manufacturing stocks -- underwent a significant shakeup in late-August. Three of the Dow's constituent members, Exxon Mobile, Pfizer, and Raytheon, were ...
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How to Trade the EUR/USD
The foreign exchange market is the most liquid of the capital markets with approximately $5 trillion in notional value traded every day. Currency trading occurs around the clock, active 24 hours a day, six days a week. The most liquid currency pairs ...
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The End of the Almighty Dollar: Why a Gold Standard Return Is Inevitable
After the US decoupled the dollar from gold in 1971, officially converting the US dollar into a pure unbacked fiat currency, the power of Wall Street was unleashed. It's no coincidence that, in the years that followed, Wall Street eventually became ...
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The Stock Market: A Brief History and Its Impact on National Economies
It doesn't matter whether you are interested in how a country's economy works or not, one way or another, the term "stock market" might have made its way to your ear. If you haven't heard about it, then the simple way to define the stock market is: ...
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Trading Trends From the 1990s to the 2010s
The 1990s through the early years of the 2000s are remembered as a time of tremendous economic growth. The investment indices climbed steadily throughout these years, dipping in 2003 and 2004 before rising modestly again in advance of the credit ...
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An Introduction to Select Economic Data Releases
It seems as if the government is always releasing economic data that is then dutifully reported on the local news channels. But what does it all mean?
This article will focus on a select few key economic data releases that traders and laymen alike ...
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A Quick Primer on the Basics of Fixed-Rate Bonds
There's no way around it: Investing in stocks, whether they offer dividends or not, is risky business. Given the daily, weekly and monthly market rollercoaster rides we've recently been part of, it's no wonder some people are looking for a safer way ...
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Which Factors Determine the Price of Precious Metals?
Precious metals such as gold, silver, palladium and platinum are, of course, much more difficult to find than others like tin, zinc, iron ore and aluminum. Throughout human history, their scarcity has made them more highly sought-after than base ...
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100 Words On: Why Raising the Minimum Wage Won’t Make You Wealthier
When governments interfere with the free market by raising the minimum wage, prices for everything naturally reset to accommodate that wage; it doesn't matter if the hourly minimum wage is $15, $20, $25 -- or even $1. Think about it; if raising the ...
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A Pictorial Timeline Explaining How the US Dollar Was Born
Today, we all know the US dollar as an iconic currency that is recognizable to people around the world.
And while we've previously looked at the buying power of the US dollar over time, as well as important events like the Great Depression, we ...
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Why Getting Cash During the Next Crisis May Be Impossible
As time goes on, it will become increasingly more difficult to get your cash out of the financial system. There are several reasons for this:
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If the US Has a Debt Problem, Why Isn’t Inflation Rampant?
It's no secret that the US has been running fiscal deficits for more than 40 years; in fact, it is the world's biggest debtor nation in terms of actual dollars. So I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the one question that I probably get asked more ...
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Why Interest Rates Will Only Go Lower Under the Current Monetary System
Do you ever wonder why student loans increased by 84% since the last crisis in 2008, and there is now $1.2 trillion in total student loan debt that has been issued in the US? Do you wonder why there is now nearly $1 trillion in auto loans, fueled by ...
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Negative Interest Rates and the Demonization of Cash
A lot of financially savvy people out there say that the world's central banks have foisted zero- and negative-interest rates (otherwise known as ZIRP and NIRP) to force people out of their savings. The truth is, there is a more pressing reason for ...
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Why the Economic End Game Is Finally Upon Us
Let's face it, folks: If the world economy was healthy it wouldn't be stuck in a period of excruciatingly slow -- if not downright negative -- real growth while trillions in central bank currency are being printed and poured into the international ...
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Coming Soon: The Greatest Wealth Transfer of All Time
Precious metals holders buy gold and silver because they understand that the majority of the modern financial world's assets are debt-based instruments and want to reduce their exposure to the resulting counterparty risk. Unfortunately, a large ...
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