I (Porter) recently watched HBO's documentary on fracking for natural gas, titled Gasland. I thought it was a fantastic documentary. HBO also recently debuted Gasland 2. And I would encourage everybody to watch these if you're interested in propaganda.
Gasland makes a great case that producing shale oil and gas is unbelievably destructive and dangerous to the environment. The movie shows people doing things like lighting their well water and tap water on fire... It's spectacular. And it will convince you that shale oil and gas is the devil itself.
The problem is... nothing in the movie is actually true. It's a gigantic jumble of falsehoods, assaults, and aspersions. The fact is, there isn't a single example anywhere in the world of shale oil and gas fracking contaminating water supplies.
The reason for that is because the shale oil and gas fracking is going on at 5,000 feet or more below the surface of the earth. Water wells and aquifers are usually between 100 and 500 feet below the surface. So there's half a mile of impenetrable rock between one and the other.
The contaminated wells they show in Gasland are all from wells in areas that were conventionally drilled, where oil and gas have been commingling with the surface water and the surface rock for decades or centuries.
So there isn't any real evidence yet that fracking chemicals or chemicals used in fracking ended up in the water supply... and I doubt there ever will be.
But if you're interested in the topic – and looking for an entertaining piece of propaganda – you ought to watch it.
– Porter Stansberry with Sean Goldsmith
Why HBO's hit documentary Gasland is "propaganda"...
Porter recently watched the HBO documentary Gasland, which slams shale oil and fracking. He says it was "fantastic." And in today's Digest Premium, he explains why it's also complete propaganda...
To continue reading, scroll down or click here.
Stansberry & Associates Top 10 Open Recommendations
(Top 10 highest-returning open positions across all S&A portfolios)
As of 07/16/2013
| Stock | Symbol | Buy Date | Total Return | Publication | Editor |
| Prestige Brands | PBH | 05/13/2009 | 456.7% | Extreme Value | Ferris |
| Rite Aid 8.5% | 767754BU7 | 02/06/2009 | 399.0% | True Income | Williams |
| Constellation Brands | STZ | 06/03/2011 | 146.7% | Extreme Value | Ferris |
| Automatic Data Processing | ADP | 10/10/2008 | 127.9% | Extreme Value | Ferris |
| BLADEX | BLX | 11/14/2003 | 126.3% | Extreme Value | Ferris |
| Philip Morris Intl | PM | 03/13/2008 | 107.9% | Extreme Value | Ferris |
| Berkshire Hathaway | BRKA | 07/08/2005 | 107.1% | Extreme Value | Ferris |
| Lucent 7.75% | LUTHP | 11/11/2009 | 102.7% | True Income | Williams |
| AB InBev | BUD | 05/12/2010 | 96.8% | Extreme Value | Ferris |
| Altria Group | MO | 03/13/2008 | 95.5% | Extreme Value | Ferris |
Please note: Securities appearing in the Top 10 are not necessarily recommended buys at current prices. The list reflects the best-performing positions currently in the model portfolio of any S&A publication. The buy date reflects when the editor recommended the investment in the listed publication, and the return shows its performance since that date. To learn if a security is still a recommended buy today, you must be a subscriber to that publication and refer to the most recent portfolio.
| Top 10 Totals |
| 8 | Extreme Value | Ferris |
| 2 | True Income | Williams |
Why HBO's hit documentary Gasland is "propaganda"...
Porter recently watched the HBO documentary Gasland, which slams shale oil and fracking. He says it was "fantastic." And in today's Digest Premium, he explains why it's also complete propaganda...
To subscribe to Digest Premium and access today's analysis, click here.
We know how this market rally will end... but for now, we'll enjoy the ride.
A slew of corporate earnings announcements pushed the market to a new all-time high this morning. The S&P 500 hit as high as 1,684.51 before pulling back slightly.
Pharma giant Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) announced second-quarter profits were up 172% from the previous year. Net income rose from $1.4 billion in the second quarter of 2012 to $3.8 billion last quarter. Sales beat estimates, rising 8.5% to $17.9 billion.
Goldman Sachs also posted impressive numbers. The investment bank's earnings rose from $962 million in the second quarter of 2012 to $1.9 billion last quarter. The firm saw gains in debt investments, investment banking revenue, and fixed-income trading.
Investment banking revenue increased 29% to $1.6 billion... Goldman earned record debt underwriting fees. (Companies are trying to lock in long-term, fixed-rate debt before interest rates rise.) The firm brought in $3.1 billion of revenue from investment banking in the first half, its highest number since 2007. And revenue rose 30% to $8.6 billion.
There was one black eye on the day, though...
Beverage giant Coca-Cola missed its numbers, citing "unusually poor weather conditions," according to CEO Muhtar Kent. For example, monsoons hurt sales in India. The general slowdown in Europe also hurt Coke, whose shares fell 1.5% today.
Still, many important stocks hit new highs today... including software behemoth Microsoft, big banks Bank of America and Wells Fargo, and online retailer Amazon, to name a few.
Swelling prices aren't limited to just stocks. We're also seeing record prices in art...
Auction house Christie's said first-half sales jumped 9% to a record $3.6 billion, thanks in large part to Asia.
"Auctions in the key markets like contemporary have been strong," Steven P. Murphy, Chief Executive Officer, said in an interview with Bloomberg. "Sales in Asia dipped last year, and they've come back. That's also been important."
Christie's sale of postwar and 21st-century art on May 15 in New York took $495 million, an all-time high for an art auction. The event also established 12 new auction highs for artists – including $58.4 million for a Jackson Pollock and $48.8 million for a Jean-Michel Basquiat.
Fine art has long been a popular asset among the wealthy... The highest-quality works are a good hedge against inflation (as more and more dollars chase these prized works). But we believe the wealthy enjoy art as an asset for another reason.
From the February 14 Digest Premium...
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Bullish news out of the housing market today...
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Housing Market Index hit its highest reading since July 2006. It was the third consecutive monthly rise. In a press release, NAHB Chairman Rick Judson said...
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As we reported in June, Doug Yearley, CEO of luxury homebuilder Toll Brothers, told CNBC large homebuilders "are well-capitalized and looking for land."
According to today's Wall Street Journal, those large homebuilders are buying up their smaller competitors...
Many small builders are having trouble accessing capital, as many regional banks have failed (or stopped lending) since the crisis. According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the dollar value of outstanding construction and development loans has fallen 68% from the peak in early 2008.
Meanwhile, larger builders are having no problem raising money... They issued a record $8.1 billion in bonds last year. And according to JPMorgan, this year could be even stronger.
"It's getting tougher and tougher for the little guy," said Michael P. Kahn, a Florida-based building-industry consultant. "The big builders are coming in with big purses and saying, 'Sell me what you've got, I'll write you a check for it.'"
Kahn has advised builders on 96 mergers and acquisitions since 1987. He believes we'll see as many as 20 more deals over the next two years. "The floodgates have opened," he said.
In the past 18 months, public builders have made at least eight large acquisitions totaling around $1.5 billion, Kahn says – the biggest consolidation since 2009.
Steve Sjuggerud is still bullish on housing. As he wrote in his latest True Wealth...
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Stocks and home prices will continue to rise as long as world governments are making sure credit stays cheap. But there will come a time when governments stop buying debt. Interest rates will rise. (The yield on 10-year Treasurys is already up from 1.63% in May to 2.54% today.) In last month's Stansberry's Investment Advisory, Porter asked...
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Porter recommends selling lower-quality assets and avoiding volatile positions. In today's environment, where we're seeing huge swings across all asset prices, it's also important to mind your trailing stops.
New 52-week highs (as of 7/15/13): ProShares Ultra Biotechnology Fund (BIB), Fidelity Select Medical Equipment & Systems Fund (FSMEX), 1st United Bancorp (FUBC), Home Federal Bancorp (HOME), iShares Biotechnology Fund (IBB), Integrated Device Technologies (IDTI), Ligand Pharmaceuticals (LGND), Microsoft (MSFT), Qlik Technologies (QLIK), and Sequoia Fund (SEQUX).
In today's mailbag, some good feedback about the boring "buy, hold, and collect ever-growing dividends" strategy. How have you fared buying Dan's World Dominating Dividend Growers? Let us know... feedback@stansberryresearch.com.
"I began investing in 1983, completely avoided the tech bubble and did very well until 2008, when the market tanked and took away all the gains I'd accumulated over 25 years. I'd been so successful for so long that I was convinced that I could hold growth stocks in good or bad markets, without stop losses, and I got killed. I rode the market up, and I rode it all the way back down.
"After that, I decided to make some changes to recoup my losses. I subscribed to at least 6 more stock advisory newsletters and began investing in foreign markets, particularly in China. After making some short-term gains, I got killed again.
"One day, on my way home from work, I heard about Porter Stansberry and his 'End of America' on the radio. I listened to his presentation, and I began to subscribe to several of his newsletters. Some newsletters suited me better than others, but the one that has really worked for me is Dan Ferris' 12% Letter.
"I quit being a trader and became an investor. I completely adopted Dan's approach to buying WDDG companies. I quit speculating, trying to be a stock picker and gave up all the investment advisory newsletters I had been receiving from other publishers.
"While there have been some 'ups and downs,' today my portfolio is up 40%. I quit worrying, minute to minute, how my portfolio was doing; I sleep better at night; I stopped being an emotional investor; and by using DRIPS, trailing stops and stop losses, I feel confident again, something I haven't felt in a long time." – Paid-up subscriber J. Van Wyck Taylor
Regards,
Why HBO's hit documentary Gasland is "propaganda"...