Have you heard the expression, "Offense wins games, defense wins championships"? If so, you might want to take a look at your investment portfolio and find out if you're ready for the current bull market to end. Check this out from Forbes' Great Speculations blog:

Exactly a year ago today the stock market was celebrating first-quarter earnings reports, reaching for new highs, after recovering from a stumble in February on concerns about situations outside the U.S., notably rising inflation in Asia and the debt crisis in Europe.

This week the stock market is celebrating first-quarter earnings reports, reaching for new highs, after recovering from a stumble in February on concerns about situations outside the U.S., notably inflation in Asia, the return of the debt crisis in Europe, and the earthquake/tsunami disaster in Japan.

In Saturday's weekly summary of Smart Investing Daily articles from last week, I promised you an article on gold prices... particularly as the price of gold has spiked higher than $1,486. Now, I want to remind you of an article we wrote at the end of February called the Gold-to-Oil Ratio, or Gold-Oil Ratio. The Gold-Oil Ratio asks how many barrels of crude oil one ounce of gold can buy. Historically, this ratio has been at 15.4, meaning one ounce of gold buys 15.4 barrels of crude oil. If we compare this historic Gold-Oil Ratio to the current ratio, the relationship can tell us if one commodity is overvalued, or undervalued. Here's what this means in real terms. When the current Gold-Oil Ratio is below 15.4, gold is either too cheap, or crude oil is too expensive. 

Redhawk Resources (RDK TSXV) & Terraco Gold (TEN TSXV)

“Most of the easy copper and the easy jurisdictions are gone. So the porphyry in last two years has really caught attention of the people and with the techniques and mining practices we have now, actually porphyries are usually easier to permit and they can be very efficient if run properly.”

Steve Barley, Redhawk Resources

Written by Michael A. Berry, Ph.D. - [ Discovery Investing Web Site ]

"Hyperinflation." You've heard the word. You may have talked about it on the golf course or at the dinner table. (Or even in the grocery store.)   There is a difference, though, between inflation and hyperinflation. They are not the same thing. And for the most part, there is no gradual path from one to the other. To wind up with true hyperinflation, some very bad things have to happen. The government has to completely lose control... the populace has to completely lose faith in the system... or both at the same time.   Consider the era of the late 1970s, a time of severe inflation in the United States. That was a bad scene. But did it count as hyperinflation? No, not anywhere near it. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, aka "Tall Paul," came in and nipped that problem in the bud.   America had to undergo severe economic pain as a result of the Volcker interest rate hikes. But the point is that America had the ability to endure it -- to solve the problem with the right leadership.