Buffett puts his money where his mouth is. Buffett is a long term investor. He doesn't care about how US stocks will do over the next 12-24months. His investment timeframe is decades. So US stocks doing well over the last 12 months would have not influenced his decision to buy one iota.
What's holding up stocks...you can say it's the Fed money printing. That may be contributing factor. But sooner or later fundamentals kick in...which means company profits in particular EPS (Earning per share) will determine the price of the stock which has direct impact on the index depending on the stocks market cap.
Another factor that has huge impact on stock prices is P/E (Price to Earnings) ratio. This is mostly determined by various factors including market sentiment, growth outlook and current interest rate environment. All these factors are currently working in favour of higher stock prices.
This is how it's always been..sure you have market shoot up or down much more than you would expect but it always does correct itself in the long run because of the primary factors determining index value are the fundamentals I mentioned above.
Cheers,
Oracle.
You bring up some good points Oracle and how can you argue with the success of the likes of Warren Buffet. Buffet believes in what and where he puts his money and has his own unique investing style.
However, there have been some great investors such as Jim Rogers, Marc Faber, George Soros and Eric Sprott who have made absolute fortunes out of commodities including gold.
Like any investment it's about knowing where to place your money. You mention history.... I agree it's hard to argue with history. Well, I'd suggest that NO fiat currency has ever survived the process of quantitative easing by way of printing more money
http://dailyreckoning.com/fiat-currency/
For the last 5000 people have been using gold and silver as currency amongst over things.
I think you are right the fundamentals have separated from the movement in the markets at the moment and the markets particularly the US markets are solely responding to the fed decision whether or not to taper and I'd suggest more speculation is coming into the market. Gold stocks are floundering in some part because speculative money is flowing into the markets as the fed announces a no taper.
We witnessed the markets spasm in September when the fed had a clear opportunity to taper however, in a surprise decision (to some at least) they didn't and markets rebounded strongly.
I think there is a good argument to be extremely careful in this environment. Sure, some investors have a long term view but if you enter this toppy market and it corrects, which it's due for, then you can really find yourself behind. Sure, Buffet supports what's going on at the moments, why wouldn't he his stocks and wealth is growing exponentially as the hot money flows into the market.
I'm not necessarily suggest buying PM, however it would be wise to hold some PM, but there are investments in the PM space that give you huge leverage to the PM price.
All the shrillers are out crying it's the end of gold, coal, and uranium including JP Morgan and the rest of those thieves.
http://www.businessweek.com/article...-settlement-jamie-dimon-is-a-colossus-no-more
It must be a buy then. It wouldn't surprise me if they (Big banks & funds) push down gold and continue short the market. In the early morning hours in thin trade dumping gold onto the market in the final push down shaking out the last of the weak holders and then flipping and going long!