Here’s Why Stocks Are Soaring… and Why You Need to Buy Now

The Contrary Investing Report

Investing and Trading News, with a Contrarian, Sarcastic Twist!

Here’s Why Stocks Are Soaring… and Why You Need to Buy Now

The financial media is churning out doom-and-gloom stories 24/7—and that’s keeping many folks on the sidelines when they should be buying.

Sure, you could say that about almost any period in history, but it’s especially true in 2017, when stocks have done this:

A Steady Ride Up

Consider this chart for a moment. This gain came during the Russia scandal, the North Korea nuclear threat and environmental and humanitarian disasters caused by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

Can you see any of those events in the chart above?

I can’t.

In reality, stocks aren’t political and they’re not emotional. The truth is, they only go up and down if a major news story also has a major financial impact.…
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4 Darling Dividends Amazon Will Crush Next

Let’s face it: brands are dead—and that’s terrible news for the 4 household names (and their landlords) we need to talk about today.

Research from Scott Galloway, founder of digital-research firm L2, tells the tale.

Galloway looked at the 13 S&P 500 stocks that have beaten the market for five straight years and found something shocking: just one, Under Armour (UA), is a consumer brand.

And as Galloway points out, there’s no way UA will keep that run going.

UA: The Last Brand Standing—for Now

The other 12 names on the list are mostly innovators that have sliced into old-school businesses and flipped them on their heads—think Facebook (FB), Salesforce.com (CRM) and, of course, Amazon.com (AMZN).…
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3 Overpriced REITs (And Where to Find the Cheap Ones!)

The stock market may be expensive today, but there are still bargains available in the REIT (real estate investment trust) world. Thanks to political, interest rate and even Amazon (AMZN) worries, you can add 7%+ real estate yields to your portfolio from the convenience of your brokerage account.

That said, there’s no reason to pay top dollar for REITs – not now, not ever. Today we’ll highlight three expensive REITs to avoid, and lead you toward some of the best bargains in the sector.

Price matters. Consider General Electric (GE), which has been a merely OK performer over the past few years, but has really punished investors who buy in during valuation peaks.…
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The Best, and Worst, Junk Bond Funds (Paying Up to 10.2%)

Junk bonds can be a great source of retirement income, or a terrible idea altogether. It depends what you buy, and really, which managers and vehicles you entrust to find value in the bargain bin.

There’s a right way to do it, and a wrong way. Let’s start with the latter, led by the popular iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG) and SPDR Barclays High Yield Bond ETF (JNK) – the two largest junk bond exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and both top-10 fixed-income ETFs by assets under management.

You and I can do better than these dumb ETFs. They are popular thanks to their low fees.…
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The Top 4 CEFs on My Personal Watch List

If you’ve been reading my CEF Insider service or my weekly articles on Contrarian Outlook, you know I don’t go near a closed-end fund unless it hands us two things:

  1. A fat, sustainable dividend
  2. A big discount to net asset value (NAV, or the value of its underlying assets)

Today I’m going to show you 4 CEFs that give us these two things in spades, with safe dividend yields up to 8.2% and ridiculous discounts either at or near double digits! (If you’re unfamiliar with CEFs, click here for a quick overview of these exciting high-yield investments).

So if you’re looking to bag solid dividends up to 8.2% at a nice discount (and who isn’t?), read on!…
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One Click for Safe 7%+ Real Estate Yields

Many retirement experts pitch real estate as the best way to bank monthly income. But do you really want to chase down rent checks and fix broken light bulbs?

I don’t. And I imagine, since you’re reading this, that you prefer your passive income to actually be passive as well.

Fortunately there’s an easier, and better, way to invest in real estate without actually playing the role of landlord. From the convenience of our brokerage accounts, we can buy real estate investment trusts (REITs) and collect truly passive income of 7%, 8% or better.

How to Collect 7%+ Rent Checks Without Playing Landlord

REITs trade like stocks, which means buying them is as easy as punching in a ticker symbol.…
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Swap Your ETFs for These 6.3%+ Dividends

Fee-obsessed investors continue to pile into exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Don’t follow them.

Because there’s another—much less popular—group of funds that will hand you much better returns (and double the dividend payouts). And swapping your ETFs for them is easy.

I’m talking about closed-end funds (CEFs). (If you’re not familiar with CEFs, click here to check out a primer I recently wrote on them.)

Now even though I just said CEFs are less popular than ETFs, that doesn’t mean they’re totally ignored. The truth is, they’re getting more attention from investors of late, for reasons I’ll dive into in just a moment.…
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3 Tired Dividend Aristocrats You Must Sell Now

If you put your portfolio on autopilot over the summer, you need to dial back in yesterday.

Because you’ll need a sharp eye and a quick hand to dodge two pitfalls that could swamp regular folks now—this month!—and in the long run.

For the first one, look no further than the calendar.

I’m talking about seasonality, and the fact that September is typically the worst month for stocks.

The truth is, the market’s steady grind higher has stalled: through the first 5 trading days (and with 15 more to go), the Dow is off 0.8% and the S&P 500 is down 0.4%.…
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3 Blue Chips That Are In for a Rude Awakening

A bull market that’s already long in the tooth is staring political and even natural headwinds right in the eyes. Valuations are stretched. And even some of Wall Street’s biggest names – three of which I’ll warn you about today – are increasingly looking vulnerable to massive pullbacks should the market buckle under pressure.

(I’ll also give you seven dividend growers with 100%+ upside to buy instead later on.)

Mother Nature is pulling the emergency brake on Hurricane Harvey, which hovered over Texas for days, delivered what some experts estimate is between $150 billion and $180 billion in damages. One estimate of $190 billion would translate into a -1% hit to the U.S.…
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3 Blue Chips That Are In for a Rude Awakening

A bull market that’s already long in the tooth is staring political and even natural headwinds right in the eyes. Valuations are stretched. And even some of Wall Street’s biggest names – three of which I’ll warn you about today – are increasingly looking vulnerable to massive pullbacks should the market buckle under pressure.

(I’ll also give you seven dividend growers with 100%+ upside to buy instead later on.)

Mother Nature is pulling the emergency brake on Hurricane Harvey, which hovered over Texas for days, delivered what some experts estimate is between $150 billion and $180 billion in damages. One estimate of $190 billion would translate into a -1% hit to the U.S.…
Read more

Read More

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