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6% checking accounts from your community bank

If you're shopping around for the best place to park safe money, check out the gigantic yields offered right now by small community banks.

Some banks without "brick and mortar" overhead are offering yields of 4%-6%. Several websites can help you find the right one.

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Public getting spooked... gold mania may lie ahead

We don't know whether to be bullish or bearish on this one…

Eric Sprott, one of Canada's top money managers, says, "The window to raise money for gold stocks has blown open." Barrick Gold CEO Peter Munk says he's getting tons of calls from investors asking how to protect their money. Investor interest in gold is soaring.

This level of interest usually coincides with a vicious correction in an asset. It's only when the papers are full of bearish news does a true bull market rally move into high gear. But given the state of the government boondoggle right now, we wouldn't be surprised to see these sorts of comments coincide with a move over $1,000 an ounce…

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Many ousted Wall Street CEOs are criminals, plain and simple

From the S&A Digest:

***In late 2007, after losing almost $10 billion, Merrill Lynch paid its employees bonuses totaling $14 billion. Said its CEO John Thain: "I want to reiterate how strong most of the businesses have done this year, and we are very optimistic as we look out to 2008." Just a few weeks later, Merrill announced additional losses, totaling $16 billion. The combined writeoff for losses taken on investments made between 2004 and 2008 equaled more money than Merrill Lynch had ever earned – in total.

On top of all these losses in 2007 and 2008 and after telling investors half a dozen times that it sold all of its toxic assets, today... incredibly... Merrill announced yet another enormous loss – $15 billion – an amount beyond what Bank of America could afford after acquiring the company for $50 billion.

The Merrill deal should cost Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis his job. But you have to wonder what Merrill told Ken Lewis and Bank of America's board about its finances. The company repeatedly lied to the public about the quality of its assets and the size of its losses since at least the beginning of 2007. And that begs a larger and more important question...

***At the end of 2007, the five largest U.S. securities firms paid their employees $66 billion in bonuses. All of it came from "profits" that we've since learned were horrendous losses. With the writeoffs from just these five firms now totaling much more than $100 billion, at what point do you begin to judge what these people did as not merely reckless and negligent, but calculating and criminal? They had to have known by at least the end of 2007 that most of their mortgage securities were cooked. And yet, they took the biggest bonuses in the history of Wall Street, leaving taxpayers to pick up the mess.

Learn more about the S&A Digest

What the best trader you've never heard of is buying now

From DailyWealth:

I've never seen a track record like my friend Jeff Clark's.

He's had 45 trades double in the last 45 months – that's a double a month!

The latest issue of Jeff's newsletter, the S&A Short Report, just came out. In it, Jeff is buying something everyone else has left for dead... commodities. He expects a big rally.

His timing looks good... Bonds (which typically bottom first) bottomed in October. Stocks (which generally bottom halfway through a recession) bottomed in November. And now commodity prices (after falling 60% peak-to-trough in 2008) bottomed in December.

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Make 20% a year in the world's worst real estate market

From DailyWealth:

Andrew started flipping houses. He'd gather the gloomiest articles about Detroit real estate. He'd mail these articles to loan officers at the local banks. Then, he'd offer to buy their foreclosed properties for pennies on the dollar. Andrew's strategy worked. He'd pay a Polish cleaning crew to overhaul the houses and then resell them for a profit.

Now, Andrew has found a new business in Detroit. He says this business is "the most fundamentally sound cash-flowing businesses in the nation right now."

Investing in apartment buildings is Andrew's new business. He buys buildings with between 30 and 200 units. He says these buildings are too big for the average owner but too small for institutions and hedge funds. Andrew says there's "very little competition" for these buildings since the credit crunch struck Detroit.

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Better than gold; this metal will soar in 2009

From The Growth Stock Wire:

This year will be the year of precious metals. I'm certain of it.

The U.S. government is printing trillions of new dollars to bail out everyone from Wall Street bankers to Detroit automakers to Miami housing speculators to Las Vegas gamblers. That will lead to inflation.

...But if you can only buy one precious metal in 2009, then buy platinum.

Relative to gold, platinum is cheaper now than it has been at any time during the past 10 years. Here, take a look...

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Psst: Stay away from copper stocks

From The Growth Stock Wire:

After nearly two years above $2.50 per pound, the price of copper fell 66% in three months. That's an incredible decline. The price hit a low around $1.20 per pound, which it hadn't seen since early 2004.

You might think that's a bottom, but the amount of copper stored in warehouses, as reported by the London Metal Exchange, is the highest it's been in five years.

If a global recession continues to hurt demand, you could see the copper supply continue to rise. As you can see from the chart, rising supply corresponds with falling prices. Supplies could get a lot higher from here... and copper prices could go much lower.

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Supertrader turns bearish: "you should sell into this rally"

From The Growth Stock Wire:

Several weeks ago, I suggested stocks were ready to bounce. The market had just completed a vicious three-month decline, and many technical indicators were pointing to a rally. If ever there was a stage set for a bear-market bounce, then it was set in November.

But I've seen flat basketballs bounce higher than this.

Yes, the major market averages did manage to rally 20% or so off of their November lows. But given the extent of the decline last summer and fall, a 20% gain is hardly a pop. And that's probably all we're going to get.

Sadly, after last week's action, it looks like the rally has come to an end. Take a look at one of my favorite intermediate-term indicators.

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Home prices cheapest since 1973

From DailyWealth:

You're not going to believe this... But U.S. residential real estate is now more affordable than it's been since 1973.

It's true. Thanks to 1) record low mortgage rates (Wells Fargo is offering 30-year fixed mortgages under 4.9%) and 2) a speedy fall in home prices (the median home price is down $50,000 on average nationwide)... we've arrived at "affordable" quicker than I ever imagined possible.

With house prices and mortgage rates way down... poof! We're here. Houses are ridiculously affordable once again. But that alone doesn't mean it's time to buy.

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The End of America

From DailyWealth:

The huge inflation underway right now will be what I call "The End of America." I don't mean an end to our political union – I mean an end to the special role America has played in the global economy since World War II.

The coming great inflation will destroy America's economic leadership. It will lead – eventually – to the return of settling international obligations in gold instead of paper dollars. And this will happen much faster than anyone expects. By the time Obama leaves office, you will not be able to exchange dollars for any sound currency in the world without permission from the U.S. government. The price of gold will be well over $2,500 per ounce. Most importantly, commodities will no longer be priced in dollars either, but instead in the currencies of the leading producer. Americans haven't experienced anything like this since the Great Depression.

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