Steve is still bullish on U.S. real estate...

Steve Sjuggerud explains his 'trade of the decade'...

In today's Digest Premium, we share more details (and two startling charts) from the presentation True Wealth editor Steve Sjuggerud will give at this weekend's Stansberry Society event in Miami Beach.

To subscribe to Digest Premium and receive a free hardback copy of Jim Rogers' latest book, click here.

 True Wealth editor Steve Sjuggerud has made his readers a fortune on the real estate rebound...

Steve first started urging readers to invest in real estate in early 2011. In True Wealth, Steve looks for assets that are "cheap, hated, and in an uptrend."

At the time, residential real estate was a wasteland... Millions of homeowners were underwater, walking away from their homes, and/or being foreclosed upon. Home prices were at their lowest in 20 years. It was a point of maximum pessimism...

And as with most points of maximum pessimism, people were either frightened or unable (due to bad credit, foreclosure, etc.) to buy houses.

 In the March 2011 True Wealth, Steve explained:

 Steve recommended readers buy physical properties. The average price of an existing home in the U.S. is up 17.2% since his recommendation. And it was up as much as 37% at last summer's seasonal peak.

Of course, that's not possible for everyone... So Steve also recommended the iShares Home Construction Fund (ITB), a portfolio of homebuilder stocks. And he recommended shares of Blackstone Group (BX), the private-equity firm that is now the country's largest residential landlord. Readers are up 95% and 157%, respectively, on those positions.

 But Steve says the gains aren't over. Three years later, Steve reiterated his bullish U.S. real estate call in the March 2014 True Wealth.

 And today, the data support Steve...

The Commerce Department reported today that new U.S. home sales climbed 9.6% to a 468,000 annualized pace in January. That's the highest level in more than five years.

 Also, Home Depot, the country's largest home-improvement retailer, beat analysts' estimates on fourth-quarter earnings yesterday...

Strong business for home-improvement retailers is usually a good sign for the housing sector. As people buy more homes, they need more goods from Home Depot to fix them up.

The company earned $1.01 billion in the quarter ($0.73 per share), besting estimates of $0.71 per share. Home Depot has topped quarterly estimates 23 times since mid-2008 and matched once.

Two years of rising home prices helped the retailer more than double its forecast for a 2% sales increase in 2013... Revenue jumped 5.4% to $78.8 billion last year.

Home Depot also raised its quarterly dividend 21% to $0.47 per share. Shares are now trading at an all-time high:

 Home Depot competitor Lowe's announced blockbuster earnings today...

Fourth-quarter net income rose 6.3% to $306 million, up from $288 million a year ago. Net sales jumped 5.6% to $11.7 billion in the fourth quarter. The stock is up more than 5% today.

 Homebuilder earnings are also rising...

Luxury homebuilder Toll Brothers announced that earnings for the quarter ended January 31 totaled $45.6 million. That's up from $4.4 million a year ago – a 10-fold improvement. Toll benefited from the sale of two shopping centers in which it was a 50% partner ($23.5 million gain) and $6.3 million of gains from land sales.

Revenue increased 52% to $643.7 million. The company delivered 928 units in the quarter, up 24% from a year ago. And the average price of the homes was $694,000, up from $569,000 a year ago.

 Though home prices are increasing more slowly in recent months... They are still rising across the country.

The S&P/Case-Shiller home price index of 20 U.S. cities rose 13.4% in December from December 2012 (prices rose 13.7% for the 12 months ended November) – the first deceleration since June.

"The housing recovery continues, but perhaps not as vigorously as it did in the first half of last year," JPMorgan chief U.S. economist Michael Feroli (the best home-price forecaster over the past two years) told Bloomberg. "Even so, appreciation trends still look pretty good even though they may not be as strong as they were."

 One concerning data point... Mortgage applications are slowing down.

An index of mortgage-application activity, maintained by the Mortgage Bankers Association, fell 8.5 percent to 348.5, in the week ended February 21. The index includes both purchases and refinancings.

And banks are already preparing for the slowdown...

 JPMorgan already fired 16,500 people in consumer and community banking divisions (those responsible for credit cards and mortgages, respectively). And it recently announced it will lay off another 8,000 employees in those two departments – 6,000 of those in mortgages.

And mortgage volume at Wells Fargo, the nation's largest lender, has fallen from $139 billion in September 2012 to $50 billion in 2013.

So what's a bank that's heavily dependent on mortgages to do in the face of a slowdown in creditworthy borrowers? Start lending to less-creditworthy borrowers...

 Reuters reported this month that Wells Fargo would seek out less-creditworthy borrowers as it felt it had worked through enough of its bad, pre-crisis loans. Already, the California-based bank has started considering borrowers with a credit score of 600, down from 640.

"Subprime mortgages were at the center of the financial crisis," the Reuters article stated, "but many lenders believe that done with proper controls, the risks can be managed and the business can generate big profits."

 Once Wells Fargo starts back into subprime lending, we'll see the other banks follow. The big banks, with their focus on making quarterly numbers, can only stand slowing mortgage underwriting for so long... In no time, we'll see mortgage lenders simply looking for folks who can "fog a mirror."

But that's a long time from now... In the meantime, the increase in borrowers and looser credit will push prices up. But we know how this story ends...

 While Steve is bullish on real estate today, he recently dubbed another opportunity his "trade of the decade."

In his March True Wealth, he told readers how to collect 11% annual dividends (and 30% potential capital appreciation) from wealthy people buying homes. (You can learn more about subscribing to True Wealth here.)

 We got a sneak peak of the presentation Steve is preparing for our first-ever Stansberry Society meeting taking place this Saturday in Miami Beach... He lays out the case for his "trade of the decade."

As we explained above, Steve looks for investments that are "cheap, hated, and in an uptrend." And right now, nothing is as cheap and hated as emerging markets.

The stock markets of countries like Russia and China are trading at earnings multiples of around six, less than half the price-to-earnings ratio of the S&P 500 U.S. stock index.

 Steve says we're finally starting an uptrend in the sector:

 And consider this... Investors pulled more money out of emerging markets in the first five weeks of 2014 than they did in all of 2013.

 We don't want to ruin the surprise, so we can't share any more details. Digest Premium subscribers will get a little more information on Steve's ideas.

And while it's too late to register for our conference in Miami, you can make sure you see Steve's presentation live. We're live-streaming the entire Stansberry Society conference online.

In addition to Steve, you'll see new presentations from Porter, Retirement Millionaire editor Dr. David "Doc" Eifrig, and one of the world's foremost experts on Bitcoin... and one presenter whose identity we're keeping a secret until he appears at the event. He's one of the most controversial people in the world today.

We'll be sharing details of some of these presentations for the rest of the week in Digest and Digest Premium. To learn more about how to gain online access to the Stansberry Society event, click here.

 New 52-week highs (as of 2/25/14): ProShares Ultra Biotechnology Fund (BIB), BP (BP), Comstock Resources (CRK), Carrizo Oil & Gas (CRZO), CVS Caremark (CVS), Denison Mines (DNN), iShares Biotechnology Fund (IBB), Integrated Device Technology (IDTI), SPDR International Health Care Fund (IRY), Eli Lilly (LLY), Superior Energy Services (SPN), Constellation Brands (STZ), Cambria Shareholder Yield Fund (SYLD), and Walgreens (WAG).

 In today's mailbag, a question we often receive... Where do you buy physical gold and silver? The answer's below. Send your questions to feedback@stansberryresearch.com.

 "I am a recent subscriber and I want to buy gold and silver now. I have not done it before and just want to get started now. Where do you recommend I go to order gold and silver? Thanks. There is lots of information in the newsletters but I do not see where to buy." – Paid-up subscriber Steven Bircher

Goldsmith comment: Well, one of our recommended coin dealers made national headlines yesterday... You may have seen the story about the California couple that found $10 million in gold coins while walking their dog. (The full story is here.)

The couple brought the coins to David Hall Rare Coins to be graded...

Longtime subscribers will recognize David Hall's name... He has been one of our recommended coin dealers for years. And his business partner, Van Simmons, is one of our go-to sources on rare coins and collectibles. (Van will be presenting at this weekend's conference.) We recommend anyone serious about adding gold coins to their holdings give Van a call at David Hall Rare Coins (1-800-759-7575).

We also recommend the folks at Asset Strategies International. You can reach someone from their team at 800-831-0007.

Regards,

Sean Goldsmith
New York City
February 26, 2014

Steve Sjuggerud explains his 'trade of the decade'...

 As we explained in today's Digest, True Wealth editor Steve Sjuggerud sent us an early copy of the presentation he's giving at this weekend's Stansberry Society event in Miami Beach.

His speech focuses on how to get your money out of the U.S. – a country that's "printing money like mad" – and into a country that is "accumulating gold like mad." He calls it the "trade of the decade."

 As we've written in the Digest before, China is buying lots of gold... It's the world's largest producer, importer, and consumer of the precious metal. And we believe, should China's central bank report its gold holdings this year (as some experts expect), the world will be amazed at the stockpile it has amassed.

That's part of the reason Steve is recommending investments related to China...

 Steve says Chinese stocks are one of the best values in the world today. Look at how they (represented by the CSI 300 Index) have compared with U.S. stocks over the past four years:

And when Chinese stocks get whacked, they can rebound by hundreds of percent in a short period:

 In his presentation in Miami, Steve will offer several recommendations for playing his "trade of the decade."

We can't share his specific advice today out of respect to conference attendees. But if you'd like to see Steve's presentation live from Miami Beach, we're offering you a way to do so from the comfort of your own home.

We're live-streaming the entire Stansberry Society event on the web. Stansberry Society is a new conference series we launched to highlight valuable and useful investment ideas from Stansberry analysts and other industry leaders. The first is scheduled for March 1 in Miami Beach.

You'll see every speaker's presentation in real time... at the same moment the attendees see them. To learn more about watching our event, live, click here...

– Sean Goldsmith

Steve Sjuggerud explains his 'trade of the decade'...

In today's Digest Premium, we share more details (and two startling charts) from the presentation True Wealth editor Steve Sjuggerud will give at this weekend's Stansberry Society event in Miami Beach.

To continue reading, scroll down or click here.

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