Welcome to the Machine: High-Frequency Trading Domination.

by Liz Ann Sonders, Senior Vice President, Chief Investment Strategist, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.

October 17, 2011

Liz Ann Sonders.

Key Points

• Market volatility has spiked, starting with 2010's flash crash and culminating in this year's wild August, bringing asset-class correlations up with it.
• High-frequency trading and the use of leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are the primary culprits, but the impact isn't all bad.
• What are regulators doing and saying about the phenomenon?

The Flash Crash of 2010. The wild week in August when Standard & Poor's downgrade of US debt hit. Triple-digit last-hour moves becoming the norm. Turbocharged high-frequency trading firms are in the crosshairs of investors and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). But are they really to blame? Over the past couple of months, it's become apparent that this new type of institutional trading is a big concern of individual investors—and it's a hot topic at client events at which I've spoken, so here's my take:

HFT defined
High frequency trading (HFT) is a program-trading platform that uses high-speed and ultra-powerful computers to transact a large number of trades at very fast speeds. HFT uses complex algorithms to analyze multiple markets and execute orders based on market conditions.

Trading speeds are measured in milliseconds (thousandths of a second), and even more recently in microseconds (millionths of a second) and nanoseconds (billionths of a second). The twinkle in technologists' eyes is picoseconds (trillionths of a second) in a "race to zero." The goal, of course, is to make a (typically) small profit on each trade.

HFT firms are usually trading their own capital and rarely hold positions overnight. Some try to add "alpha" (outperformance relative to a benchmark) by using unique trading strategies, while others are more passive—often just trading the spread between a bid and an offer price.

Dominating trading volume…
According to several sources, including TABB Group, Aite Group and Thomson Reuters, HFT now accounts for between 55-75% of trading volume on average, with some days even higher. You probably remember the second week in August when the market had one of its wildest rides in history. I certainly remember, as I was on a vacation that turned into a non-vacation.

…and elevating volatility
On August 8, the Monday after S&P downgraded US debt, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 635 points. Volume on the New York Stock Exchange was the fourth highest on record. TABB estimates record profits of $60 million that day for HFT firms. The bottom line is that any time trading firms are making millions while the majority of investors are either getting killed or simply watching market action with horror, it's going to generate attention.

Pros and cons
The proponents for HFT claim that it brings more liquidity to the market while keeping transaction costs low via narrowing bid-ask spreads, and a recent study by the Capital Markets Cooperative Research Centre of Australia supports that view. But there are plenty of studies that refute the aforementioned benign characterization of HFT.

One such study was completed last November by Yale Professor X. Frank Zhang, who found that "HFT is positively correlated with stock price volatility" and that it's "especially strong for the top 3,000 stocks in market capitalization and stocks with high institutional holdings." Zhang's most condemning find is that "the positive correlation between HFT and volatility is also stronger during periods of high market uncertainty."

You can see the latest increase in volatility in the chart below.

Volatility Elevated

Source: FactSet, as of October 14, 2011.

You can also see the unprecedented increase in asset class correlations, for which there's a longer history than volatility, in the chart below.

Correlation Elevated

Source: The Leuthold Group, as of September 30, 2011. Average 60-month correlation of monthly changes in S&P 500 with monthly changes in: Morgan Stanley EAFE, Gold, CRB (Commodity Research Bureau) Raw Industrials, 10-Year Treasury, one-Year Treasury-Bill Rate, Broad Foreign Currency Index.

Volatility and correlation are related
In times of high market volatility, stock movements tend to be more correlated and the link has grown increasingly strong since the mid-2000s. That was when regulatory reform encouraged financial exchanges to switch from floor-based trading to electronic trading.

Two things have happened since then that are coincident with the emergence of trading-platform fragmentation and HFT. First, as noted, volatility and correlations have both been higher. Second, the slope of the volatility/correlation curve is steeper, meaning that a rise in volatility today has a more pronounced impact on correlations than in the past.

HFT seems to have reduced bid-ask spreads (and thus transaction costs) in less-volatile times, making markets work more smoothly. But it appears to have done the opposite in more-volatile times, adding to market stress and amplifying volatility.

Diversification is dead …
This increase in correlations is throwing for a loop the notion of diversification in investors' portfolios as a way to minimize risk in volatile markets. If all asset classes are moving in tandem, the power of diversification is lost. This is the reason for the now-popular characterization of market action over the past several years as "risk-on/risk-off" trading, and HFT has undoubtedly been a factor in this phenomenon.

…long live diversification!
I'm often asked about this relatively new highly correlated market and whether it's a fixture of the future or a fluke of the unique environment we've been in since the financial crisis erupted three years ago. I lean toward the latter view and still believe that investing based on longer-term fundamentals will still be rewarded, and that diversification is not dead.

One of the things that high correlations do bring is the opportunity to find mispricings amid coordinated movements. It's simply the case that the fundamentals are very different among the riskier asset classes, and within asset classes among individual securities. When everything's moving in tandem, investors can look for securities, industries, sectors or asset classes whose movements aren't justified by underlying fundamentals. It may not be a strategy with an immediate reward, but should serve investors well in the longer term.

HFT and ETFs
The other facet of HFT dominance is its use of certain vehicles, notably ETFs. I'm a regular reader of TheStreet.com articles written about or by Doug Kass, founder and president of Seabreeze Partners Management. He opined recently on HFT firms' use of "leveraged" ETFs in particular, and it caught the attention of my friend Andrew Ross Sorkin, who penned an article on the subject in The New York Times.

Leveraged ETFs give investors the opportunity to bet on a basket of stocks, commodities or an overall index and have become very popular vehicles for traders generally and HFT firms in particular. Their attractiveness to HFT users comes from the fact that investors can bet long or short and leverage the bet, while also moving in and out during the trading day to lock in gains (or limit losses, which can be substantial). There are also "inverse leveraged" ETFs that go up when the price of the basket of goods goes down and vice versa.

Doug Kass calls these leveraged ETFs the "new weapons of mass destruction" as they've "turned the market into a casino on steroids." Leveraged ETFs have to rebalance their holdings each day to remain properly weighted, and they do so by buying and selling millions of shares within minutes. If a leveraged ETF made money that day, it has to reinvest the proceeds and leverage them again to remain balanced. This helps to explain many of the very wild, very large late-day swings we've seen in the market.

The view that HFT firms and their use of leveraged ETFs have wreaked havoc on markets has not gone unchallenged, though. William Trainor, a professor at East Tennessee State University, studied market volatility at the beginning and end of market days and concluded that ETF rebalancing had little to do with it. But Andrew Ross-Sorkin did his own (informal) poll of fund managers and virtually all agreed with the Kass view about both leveraged ETFs and the magnification of their impact from the use by HFT firms.

SEC et al. taking a look
In the meantime, I'm often asked whether there's any official scrutiny of the practices of HFT firms. In fact, US and European Union (EU) securities regulators are looking into whether ETFs and their use by HFT firms amplified August's wild swings in the market.

SEC officials are honing in on leveraged and inverse ETFs specifically, part of a broader look by regulators into exotic trading vehicles and HFT. In early September, prompted by August's market action, the SEC voted to open up a public dialogue about the use of derivatives by mutual funds and ETFs, among other things. The Dow Jones Industrial Average swung by at least 400 points on four consecutive days that month for the first time in its 115-year history. And as previously noted, many HFT firms posted huge profits during that volatile time. Expect to hear much more in the coming months from the SEC.

Across the pond, the EU is considering listing "specific examples of strategies using algorithmic trading and high-frequency trading" that should be banned outright and punished by regulators as market manipulation.

Layering, stuffing and spoofing
The Brussels-based commission is targeting "layering," in which traders place large orders they have no intention of putting through, and "quote stuffing," in which investors seek an advantage by delaying data feeds. "Spoofing," in which market participants try to trick other computers into making decisions that can be exploited for profit, would also be banned.

Steps are already being taken to stem abuses. Regulators in the United States and the EU have recently fined traders for using computers to gain advantage over slower investors/traders by illegally manipulating prices. They're also weighing new rules for HFT, with an international regulatory body to make recommendations to global leaders over the next few weeks. Even the HFT industry itself is cooperating, believing that although the majority of HFT is legitimate and lowers costs, it's in favor of policing the market to quell manipulation and support market stability.

The hoped-for benefit of this increased scrutiny and action is confidence among traditional investors in markets and the belief that we can all again play on a relatively level playing field.

Important Disclosures
Investors should carefully consider information contained in the prospectus, including investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. You can request a prospectus by calling Schwab at 800-435-4000. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.

Some specialized exchange-traded funds can be subject to additional market risks. Investment returns will fluctuate and are subject to market volatility, so that an investor's shares, when redeemed or sold, may be worth more or less than their original cost.

Leveraged ETFs seek to provide a multiple of the investment returns of a given index or benchmark on a daily basis. Inverse ETFs seek to provide the opposite of the investment returns, also daily, of a given index or benchmark, either in whole or by multiples. Due to the effects of compounding, aggressive techniques, and possible correlation errors, leveraged and inverse ETFs may experience greater losses than one would ordinarily expect. Compounding can also cause a widening differential between the performances of an ETF and its underlying index or benchmark, so that returns over periods longer than one day can differ in amount and direction from the target return of the same period. Consequently, these ETFs may experience losses even in situations where the underlying index or benchmark has performed as hoped. Aggressive investment techniques such as futures, forward contracts, swap agreements, derivatives, options, can increase ETF volatility and decrease performance. Investors holding these ETFs should therefore monitor their positions as frequently as daily.

Diversification strategies do not assure a profit and do not protect against losses in declining markets.

The information provided here is for general informational purposes only and should not be considered an individualized recommendation or personalized investment advice. The investment strategies mentioned here may not be suitable for everyone. Each investor needs to review an investment strategy for his or her own particular situation before making any investment decision.

All expressions of opinion are subject to change without notice in reaction to shifting market conditions. Data contained herein from third party providers is obtained from what are considered reliable sources. However, its accuracy, completeness or reliability cannot be guaranteed.

Examples provided are for illustrative purposes only and not intended to be reflective of results you can expect to achieve.

Oil is Killing Economic Growth. Op-Ed.

by Natalie Pace.

6 ways the oil economy is draining the U.S. dry. Or how to win an argument with a petrol-loving Conservative.

One of the largest drains on the GDP growth in the U.S. is the amount of oil and petrol that we import. Each month, the drain equals $12 billion or more in a U.S. trade deficit to OPEC. With the rapid gentrification of the world's largest populations -- China and India -- and an already gluttonous worldwide appetite for the crude, the scales of supply and demand will surely tip into ever more obese pricing -- no matter how fast we tap reserves a mile beneath the ocean floor in the Gulf. That's a recipe for keeping our enemies rich, and US at their mercy.

And imports are not the only way that oil is killing economic growth. We pay a very high price in reduced consumer and business spending, soldiers' lives and health care as a result of this liquid gold, too, which I'll outline in greater detail below.

Conservatives have gathered around the firing words of exploration, energy independence (falsely claiming we can produce enough to sate our thirst) and Solyndra to kill clean energy funding and loan programs and expand drilling domestically. However, just how reasonable is the idea that, in the words of one Wall Street banker, "The most productive new energy technology is related to developing old energy sources?"

Whether you consider future sales, American lives, the planet, GDP growth, the joy of swimming on white sandy beaches, or just the thrill of eating out on occasion, an investment in clean energy trumps old technology hands down. All of the capital and jobs needed to drill for more oil are better spent developing alternative fuels and energy, which have the potential, like Internet technology did before it, to put America on top of the world again, in addition to powering our sophisticated lives. And here's why...

6 Ways the Oil Economy is Draining the U.S. Dry

1. Consumer Spending
2. Imports Kill GDP Growth
3. Soldier's Lives
4. Health Care Costs
5. Military Operations
6. The BP Oil Spill

With details and data...

1. Consumer Spending - My dad went to riding a bike when gasoline prices spiked this year. He couldn't afford to gas up his fuel-efficient car that gets almost 30 miles to the gallon. What did you cut out of the budget? When consumers can't buy, businesses suffer. And that stalls the economy.
   
   
2. Imports Kill GDP Growth - Imports are subtracted from exports to determine GDP growth. OPEC is the #2 line item expense for the U.S., with a current monthly trade deficit of over $12 billion -- $13 billion in August (source: Bureau of Economic Analysis). If every American drove a Tesla (or other electric vehicle) and powered it with sunlight, this imbalance shifts overnight...
   
   
3. Soldier's Lives - According to Thomas Hicks, the deputy assistant secretary of energy for the U.S. Navy, who spoke to me at the Clinton Global Initiative in September, "For every 50 fuel convoys, we have one American killed or wounded. For us, that's just too high a price to pay for fuel." Bringing fuel into "the theatre" means sending regular convoys from Pakistani ports through insurgents and IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) to Afghanistan.

   You can see my complete interview with Thomas Hicks on YouTube.com/NataliePaceDotCom.

4. Health Care Costs - War-related death and injury cost a lot. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that "the total real resources (in 2010 dollars) necessary to provide health care services to all veterans who seek treatment at VA would range from $69 billion to $85 billion in 2020, representing cumulative increases of roughly 45 percent to 75 percent since 2010." Though there is a "fast-growing share of enrollments" in the VA program from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the CBO is not predicting that these veterans will use the service because " they are younger and healthier than other veterans served by VA." Hmmm... Not unless we stop trucking fuel into the theater...
   
   
5. Military Operations - The spike in oil prices during the Arab Spring sank the average American's budget, but it had a similar affect on our defense budgets (and any business involved in transportation as well). Based on June oil prices, fuel costs will increase by a billion dollars to the Navy this year, according to Hicks. "That impacts our flying hours, our steaming hours, our ability to sail our ships and to fly our planes," Hicks warns, which is why the Navy is aggressive about developing and adopting alternative fuels and energy.

   You can learn more about the Navy's five energy goals in my article, "The High Cost of Gas in Lives," from the October 2011 ezine, volume 8, issue 10.

6. The BP Oil Spill - BP took $40 billion in losses in 2010 with respect to the Gulf of Mexico spill -- something only a $135 billion company can survive. Many of the small businesses in the Gulf didn't make it. And although President Obama and our First Lady made it a point of eating oysters, crawdads, trout and shrimp on December 1, 2010, during "America’s Night Out for Gulf Seafood," to highlight just how safe and delicious Gulf seafood still is, sales of food from that region are still depressed. The cost to wildlife, vegetation, plankton and other essential elements of our life/food cycle may never be known. However, we do know that the toxicity of oil makes gambling with our oceans a high-risk venture.

Clean or Dirty: Innovation or Degradation
As Paul Woods, the managing director of Summit Wealth Management says, "Solar panels are becoming so cheap that they're close to making economic sense without subsidies for people who live in sunny places." The 100% electric Tesla S sedan, when you consider the gas savings, is cheaper than the Chevy Volt and every other luxury sedan in production. So, the tipping point of powering your electric car with sunshine is within reach. Now is the time to double down on the future, and lead the world into a cleaner energy grid, and reap the benefits of selling the best clean energy products to other countries.

The idea of energy independence that is rooted in oil and dirty energy sources is a pie-in-the-sky dream, cooked up by oil cronies who want to keep the world's richest companies in power. As long as we have a gas guzzling addiction, oil-rich countries, like Libya and Iran, will have US by the b@!!$. Conservatives in Hummers and SUVs are killing jobs, economic growth, military operations, et al. far more than tree-huggers driving Smart Cars.

Innovation is just as powerful as the world's most expensive addiction -- oil. Apple has been trading places with Exxon Mobil all year for the world's most valuable company by market capitalization, with current market caps of $369 billion each (tied for first). Sales of Apple products topped $108 billion this year.

The next time someone tries to sell you into the idea that drilling deeper domestically for oil is the best solution, remind them that the same capital and human capital push needed to drill and refine oil and gas could be spent developing the clean energies that will power our world into tomorrow. If we're drilling a mile beneath the gulf for oil with untested equipment, you have to admit we're getting a little desperate, especially considering that the main ingredient for solar energy (which can power electric cars) is sand.

Gasoline powered cars are dinosaurs. Clean energy investments today are as forward-thinking as developing an iMusic platform and personal iPods were when Napster was giving away songs for free -- or iPhones before people could dream of touch screen smart applications. Real wealth is always found in the dreams of tomorrow. So, who will be the next Steve Jobs? Elon Musk?

Hammer the point home with your conservative friends. Turn on the LED lights in their thinking... And fuel US to stay on the right track for energy independence -- with electric vehicles, solar, wind, geothermal, LEDs and other clean technologies.

About Natalie Pace:
Natalie Pace is the author of You Vs. Wall Street. and Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is, and the founder and CEO of the Women’s Investment Network, LLC. She is a blogger on HuffingtonPost.com, and a repeat guest on national television and radio shows such as Good Morning America, Fox News, CNBC, ABC-TV, Forbes.com, NPR and more. As a philanthropist, she has helped to raise more than two million for Los Angeles public schools and financial literacy. Follow her on Facebook.com/NWPace. For more information please visit NataliePace.com.

The 100% Electric Tesla S Sedan.

Tesla. The Best Car on the Road.

by Natalie Pace.

Includes a Car Stock Report Card.

There are only a few heart-stopping thrills in this life, and the Tesla Roadster is definitely one of them. It's hard to describe 0-60 in 3.9 seconds, but WSJ Magazine does a good job with the word "neck-snapping." During my test drive (with a race car salesman), it was impossible to zing through the Sunset Boulevard S curves without giggling with delight. And that is before you consider that this car is 100% electric and can be powered by sunlight.

So, can Tesla translate the wisdom of the Roadster into making the Tesla S sedan the most desirable luxury sedan in the world? The test drives are in, and it appears so. After test driving the S sedan, Kim Reynolds of Motor Trend wrote simply, "This is it." Reuters call the S sedan, "the must-have Apple of electric cars." And WSJ Magazine just named Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Innovator of the Year in Technology. Tesla cars are clean, mean, green and hot enough to make you want a cigarette after (even if you don't smoke).

How does Tesla size up to the competition?
The Tesla S sedan will be roomier, sexier and have more power and capacity than any other electric car. The Fisker Karma has far less space and costs almost twice as much as the Tesla S sedan (at around $100,000). The Karma has the added benefit of being a hybrid with "extended range" in case you really have to take that 500-mile road trip in your electric car, however the dual capacity takes its toll on space. Kim Reynolds of Motor Trend, who is one of the few people to have driven both the Karma and the Tesla S sedan wrote, "The most startling difference between them is space efficiency... There's not only room for just two in back [in the Fisker Karma], but I'd advise them to be 12 years old. Its trunk? Don't play golf."

The Nissan Leaf suffers from small range syndrome -- just 75 miles. Paul Woods, managing director at Summit Wealth Management, says that driving the Leaf felt like " driving a go kart." Hardly a thrill ride...

The Chevy Volt was Motor Trend's 2011 Car of the Year, but customers weren't as enamored. Sales over the summer were embarrassing; with reports of sales in July of just 125 cars. GM reported that October deliveries of the Volt were 1100 -- the best month to date, but Volt sales are still under 5,000 for the year. (General Motors did not respond with an exact sales number.) What's the problem? The Chevy Volt extends your driving range with its hybrid capacity, but with a price tag of $42,549, many customers are opting to wait for the better looking, better performing Tesla S sedan.

More than 6,500 Tesla Model S sedans have already been reserved. That exceeds the 2012 production of 5,000 S sedans -- meaning the car is sold out for 2012. Pre-orders and positive press position Tesla well for the planned 20,000 annual production of sedans by 2013. Model S will start delivering in mid-2012.

Tesla also partners with Daimler and Toyota to supply the electric power trains for the Daimler Smart ForTwo, the Mercedes Benz A-Class and an all-electric version of the Rav4. The Tesla executive team includes experienced talent from Ford, General Motors, Apple, Toyota, Virgin America, the State Dept., Google and Sony.

There is a turn off on this switch from gas guzzler to electric power. The problem with all things green is that the world is still embroiled in a recession (though the economists don't call it that) and without a steady stream of funding, it will be very difficult for any new technology to break out into the mainstream. Elon Musk projects that Tesla will be cash positive by 2013, and a Tesla spokesperson claims that Tesla has all the funding needed to deliver the Model S sedan. However, it is rare for new production facilities and projects to get all of the safety and permit approvals in a timely manner, which is needed to meet their deadlines. And delays add costs... At a time when the politicians still need to cut two trillion (at least) from the budget deficit and the Republicans have a full court press to kill the Alternative Technology Vehicles Manufacturing loan program ...

So, the Tesla cars, the best cars on the road, are without a doubt the most exciting innovations to hit Earth since Al Gore invented the Internet. The only question is, "Will lack of funding pull the plug on electric in 2012?" If yes, you'll be glad you stayed away from this high-risk investment. If no, then you just took ownership in the next great thing.

I added Tesla Motors to the Hot List on October 1, 2011, when it was trading for $23.73/share.

Full Disclosure: I do not own shares in any publicly traded company mentioned in this article -- yet.

About Natalie Pace:
Natalie Pace is the author of You Vs. Wall Street. and Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is, and the founder and CEO of the Women’s Investment Network, LLC. She is a blogger on HuffingtonPost.com, and a repeat guest on national television and radio shows such as Good Morning America, Fox News, CNBC, ABC-TV, Forbes.com, NPR and more. As a philanthropist, she has helped to raise more than two million for Los Angeles public schools and financial literacy. Follow her on Facebook.com/NWPace. For more information please visit NataliePace.com.

Please note: NataliePace.com does not act or operate like a broker. We report on financial news, and are one of the most trusted independently owned and operated financial news corporations in the U.S. This article is intended to educate and inform individual investors, and, thus, to give investors a competitive edge in their personal decision-making. The publicly traded companies mentioned in this article are not intended to be buy or sell recommendations.

ALWAYS do your research and consult an experienced, reputable financial professional before buying or selling any security, and consider your long-term goals and strategies.   Investors should NOT be all in on any asset class or individual stocks. Your retirement plan should reflect a long, safe strategy, which has been designed with the assistance of a financial professional who is familiar with your goals, risk tolerance, tax needs and more. The "trading" portion of your portfolio should be a very small part of your investment strategy, and the amount of money you invest into individual companies should never be greater than your experience, wisdom, knowledge and patience.  

Information has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable however NataliePace.com does not warrant its completeness or accuracy. Opinions constitute our judgment as of the date of this publication and are subject to change without notice. This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any financial instrument. Securities, financial instruments or strategies mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors.

Debt & Taxes.

by Paul Woods.

Paul Woods.

If you have a job in the private sector, one way to understand the difference between the people you work for and government would be to go to your boss and demand a raise because you’ve spent too much money. Tell your boss that living within your means is too difficult and giving you more money would be a balanced solution to your problem. If Western style democracies have an Achilles heel, it’s that this approach works most of the time for their politicians. Voters will usually approve a tax if they think someone else will pay it and they’ll get something in return. Unfortunately, giving compulsive spenders more money and hoping they’ll finally restrain themselves rarely works.

It’s well documented that more public debt equals less economic growth.

Estimated Annual Real GDP Growth 2011-2016 (75 countries)

Source: International Monetary Fund, CIA World Factbook, Heritage Foundation

It’s well documented that more public debt equals less economic growth.

While it’s also no secret that the private sector uses capital more efficiently than the public sector, the impact of transferring resources from the private sector to the government through higher taxes doesn’t get much coverage. That made us curious, so we looked at data for 75 countries. What jumped out is the inverse correlation between debt & taxes and economic growth. In this case, less is definitely more.

According to IMF estimates, the next five years will show a dramatic difference in economic growth between countries that limit borrowing and control taxes versus those that don’t. Low debt countries are expected to show 39% more annual economic growth. However, for low tax countries, the difference is a staggering 124% more economic growth. When choosing where to invest in equities and fixed income outside the United States, both of these factors should be major considerations.

In the third quarter of 2011, slowing growth spooked investors and produced a sea of red. This environment typically produces a flight to large companies, but value also continued to underperform because of its exposure to financials. For reference, here’s the stock market segment scorecard:

Source: Telmet Orion

Anything likely to be hurt by a slowing economy got pounded while industries with less exposure to the economy were the place to be. For reference, here’s the stock market index and industry group scorecard for the third quarter:

Source: Telmet Orion

Bond investors began discounting the next recession as Treasury yields slipped to lows not seen in most lifetimes. The never-ending soap opera in Europe produced a flight to what’s perceived as a safe haven. For now, that’s the U.S. in spite of its recent credit downgrade. For bond investors looking for old-fashioned things like a real return on their money, there were fewer choices. However, the

strong dollar made foreign bonds look more attractive and there continues to be some value in good quality corporate debt.

Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Internationally, Greece continued to look like a black hole as European bankers searched for more creative ways to pretend the debt they’ve holding is still worth par while also lobbying to make taxpayers take this inevitable hit. Whether this ends by Greece deciding the cost of remaining in the EU is too high or by taxpayers in Germany rioting at the cost of bailing out fools is too close to call.

However, Greece isn’t the only problem. Countries with healthy economies can grow their way out of debt problems. However, Europe’s confiscatory taxes make it unlikely their economies will produce enough economic growth and Greece probably won’t be the only country unable to pay its debts. With growth forecasts in the U.S. also going south, Asia remains the best hope for the world’s economy.

During the third quarter, we were treated to the kind of jobs plan that explains why our economy is slipping back into a recession. It consisted of a permanent tax on those who didn’t vote for the right party to fund temporary benefits for those who did. Strangely enough, the main problems that keep unemployment high weren’t addressed. The cost of benefits for full time employees keeps exploding while U.S. businesses still pay one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world. It also doesn’t help that the most recent financial reforms made it more difficult for small businesses to get loans. Until these issues are dealt with, high unemployment will become a permanent feature of the U.S. economy.

The stock market appears to be in the process of coming to grips with a new reality that includes the likelihood that future economic growth expectations for the U.S. are too optimistic. As a result, stock market valuations are in the process of being adjusted downward and the current unappetizing combination of high volatility and low returns makes the stock market look like a trip to Las Vegas.

Right now, the major appeal for stocks is the certainty of low returns in the alternatives.

Best regards,

Paul A. Woods

About Paul Woods
Paul is a Managing Director in the Beverly Hills office of Summit Wealth Management.

Information has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable however Summit Wealth Management, Inc. does not warrant its completeness or accuracy. Opinions constitute our judgment as of the date of this material and are subject to change without notice. This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any financial instrument. Securities, financial instruments or strategies mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors.

Companies in Bankruptcy Rarely Make Blockbuster Investments.

A FINRA.org Investor Alert.

FINRA is issuing this Alert because we believe that there may be investor confusion in the market regarding the bankruptcy of Blockbuster, Inc., (BLOAQ, BLOBQ) and that some stock promoters may be trying to exploit that confusion.

Blockbuster is a former NYSE-listed company that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on September 23, 2010. In April 2011, almost all of Blockbuster's assets, including the "Blockbuster'' trade name, were acquired by DISH Network Corp. (Nasdaq: "DISH"). The remaining entity changed its name to BB Liquidating, Inc. According to multiple public disclosures, BB Liquidating, Inc. has no further business operations or assets, although its shares still trade under the BLOAQ and BLOBQ symbols.

The SEC temporarily suspended trading in BLOAQ on September 29, because of "a lack of current and accurate information concerning the company’s securities due to assertions in third-party press releases to investors concerning, among other things, the company's current financial condition and business prospects." For instance, one report stated that "Blockbuster is Back From the Doldrums" and "is now becoming a promising comeback story." Another website described BLOAQ as a " ... global media entertainment provider, which exited Chapter 11 protection earlier this year…"

In fact, the company has not exited bankruptcy, and the company itself stated in a recent SEC filing that even though its shares continue to be quoted on the Pink Sheets, they may have "no value." In another recent filing, the company stated that there are "no further business operations nor assets to liquidate" and noted any financial success associated with the company that acquired the Blockbuster brand would have "no impact" on the value of the BLOAQ and BLOBQ shares.

FINRA cautions investors that bankrupt companies can be targets of online stock tips that can be confusing, inaccurate, misleading and in some cases fraudulent. Furthermore, FINRA reminds investors that holding shares of any company involved in bankruptcy, or buying shares in a bankrupt company in the hope that those shares will surge in value down the road, are highly risky courses of action and can lead to financial loss.

For additional information see FINRA’s Investor Alert, Investing in a Bankrupt Company: a High Risk Venture.

About FINRA
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), is the largest independent regulator for all securities firms doing business in the United States. All told, FINRA oversees nearly 4,800 brokerage firms, about 170,400 branch offices and approximately 643,000 registered securities representatives.

FINRA believes investor protection begins with education. Using the Internet, the media and public forums, we help investors build their financial knowledge and provide them with essential tools to better understand the markets and basic principles of saving and investing.

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Lead Bullets.

by Ben Horowitz.

Yet our best trained, best educated, best equipped, best prepared troops refuse to fight. As a matter of fact, it’s safe to say that they would rather switch than fight.
—Public Enemy (sampled from Thomas Todd), Fight the Power

Artist: Public Enemy
Track: Fight the Power
Album: Fear of a Black Planet
Released: 1990
Label: Def Jam, Columbia

Ben Horowitz.

Early in my tenure as product manager for the web servers at Netscape, we faced a terrible crisis. We just got our hands on Microsoft’s new web server, Internet Information Server (IIS), and benchmarked against our product. Microsoft’s IIS had every feature that we had, was five times faster and we knew that they were going to give it away for free. This might not sound so bad, but we had just gone public three months earlier with a story to Wall Street that said, "Don’t worry about Microsoft giving away the browser because we will make money selling servers." Oh snap.

I immediately went to work trying to move the playing field and pivot the server product line to something that we could sell for money. The late, great Mike Homer and I worked furiously on a set of partnerships and acquisitions that would broaden the product line and surround the web server with enough functionality that we would be able survive the attack.

As I excitedly reviewed the plan with my engineering counterpart, Bill Turpin, he looked at me as though I was a little kid who had much to learn. Bill was a long-time veteran of battling Microsoft from his time at Borland and understood what I was trying to do, but remained unconvinced. He said: "Ben, those silver bullets that you and Mike are looking for are fine and good, but our web server is five times slower. There is no silver bullet that’s going to fix that. No, we are going to have to use a lot of lead bullets." Oh snap.

As a result of Bill’s words, we focused our engineering team on fixing the performance issues while working the other things in the background. We eventually beat Microsoft’s performance and grew the server line to become a $400M business and we would never have done it without those lead bullets. I carried that lesson with me for many years.

Six years later, when I was CEO of Opsware, our toughest competitor Bladelogic started to consistently beat us in large deals. We were a public company and the losses were all too visible. To make matters worse, we needed to win those deals in order to beat the Wall Street projections, so the company felt tremendous pressure. Many of the smartest people in my company came to me with ideas for avoiding the battle:

• "Let’s build a light-weight version of the product and go down market."
• "Let’s acquire a company with a simpler architecture."
• "Let’s focus on service providers."

The issue with their ideas was that we weren’t facing a market problem. The customers were buying; they just weren’t buying our product. This was not a time to pivot. So I said the same thing to every one of them: "There are no silver bullets for this, only lead bullets." They did not want to hear that, but it made things clear: we had to build a better product. There was no other way out. No window, no hole, no escape hatch, no backdoor. We had to go through the front door and deal with the big, ugly guy blocking it. Lead bullets.

After nine months of hard work on an extremely rugged product cycle, we regained our product lead and eventually built a company that was worth $1.6B. Without the lead bullets, I suspect we would have ended at about 1/10^th that value.

There may be nothing scarier in business than facing an existential threat. So scary that many in the organization will do anything to avoid it. They will look for any alternative, any way out, any excuse not to live or die in a single battle. I see this often in start up pitches. The conversations go something like this:

Entrepreneur: "We have the best product in the market by far. All the customers love it and prefer it to competitor X."
Me: "Why does competitor X have five times your revenue?"
Entrepreneur: "We are using partners and OEMs, because we can’t build a direct channel like competitor X."
Me: "Why not? If you have the better product, why not knuckle up and go to war?"
Entrepreneur: "Ummm."
Me: "Stop looking for the silver bullet."

There comes a time in every company’s life where it must fight for its life. If you find yourself running when you should be fighting, you need to ask yourself: "If our company isn’t good enough to win, then do we need to exist at all?"

About Ben Horowitz
Ben Horowitz is the cofounder and General Partner (along with Marc Andreessen) of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz based in Menlo Park, California. Ben was CEO of LoudCloud (a cloud service provider), which became Opsware, and then sold to Hewlett-Packard for $1.6 billion.

Lilian Kathiri Photo by: Linda Lockhart

Worth More Than a Cow.

by Natalie Pace.

Advancing Women's Rights in the Developing World.

Learn how corporations, policymakers, government leaders and motivated young women are collaborating to reduce violence and promote equality for women in developing countries.

I've heard a lot of horror stories from women in the U.S. If you lived in 1919, you couldn't vote. In the 1970s, you would never be offered a sports scholarship to attend college, even if you were Billie Jean King. And, although she ended up joining the most exclusive law firm in the world -- the U.S. Supreme Court -- Sandra Day O'Connor was only offered secretarial positions after graduating at the top of her class at Stanford Law. However, none of these gifted women were ever at risk of being sold for a cow, as routinely happens to young girls in Kenya.

At the Clinton Global Initiative earlier this year, Reeta Roy, the president and CEO of the MasterCard Foundation, described a situation that she had come across in her travels in Africa to me. A young African girl was being sold by her parents to a much older man, who already had three wives. According to Reeta, this young woman did something extraordinary. She simply said, "No."

Reeta Roy President and CEO, The MasterCard Foundation Photo: Clinton Global Initiative

Armed with a scholarship from CAMFED, rather than becoming a teen mother, this young girl completed middle school. She is now getting her degree in technology, while supporting her three younger sisters on their quest for a career and financial independence, as well.

CAMFED is just one organization in Africa that is providing the scholarships and schooling that young women need to make a better life for themselves and their communities. The Global Give Back Circle is another. GGBC provides the mentors, IT training and funding for Kenyan girls to complete high school and go on to college. GGBC has attracted marquise partners like Microsoft, MasterCard Foundation and USAID, among others. And Reeta Roy is one of the many VIP women who give personally of their time to mentor a young Kenyan protégée one-on-one.

Reeta Roy, president and CEO, MasterCard Foundation with Lilian Kathiri, member of the Global Give Back Circle Photo by Linda Lockhart

Reeta Roy has been through a lot with her GGBC mentee, Lilian Kathiri. They've talked about everything from career, to boys, to dealing with parents' expectations. However recently, they had cause for both celebration and a larger calling. On October 18, 2011, Lilian flew to Paris, France to represent the African Union at the Girls 20 Summit. Reeta Roy met her there. The two mixed in some delicious downtime with a critically important mission: making sure that other young women in the developing world are priced higher (and treated with more dignity) than a cow.

Lilian Kathiri at the Girls 20 Summit in Paris, France. Photo by: Linda Lockhart

Lilian was at the Girls 20 Summit to share her points of concern, which are, primarily:

One of the most important things discussed at the Girls 20 Summit was the importance of involving the community in social change. Lilian reports that this was a constant theme at the conference and something she has witnessed in her own efforts. The Global Give Back Circle, a US based nonprofit organization, partners with the Kenya Community Development Foundation (KCDF) in order to best serve the GGBC students who are on the ground in Kenya. Also, when Lilian was volunteering time on the weekend to tutor school children, she enlisted the support of the parents. Why is this so important? Lilian writes, "The parents understood the essence of the program and therefore allowed their children to attend sessions on Saturdays and did not instead see it as time wasted... because on weekends children help parents in family chores."

Lilian reports that wife battery is still common in rural areas in Kenya because "men still believe they have the right to punish their wives by beating them." She is encouraged, however, that other men are joining the cause for equality. Forest Whitaker was the keynote speaker at the Girls 20 Summit. Kenya also has organizations like Men for Gender Equality Now (MEGEN) that recognize the need for men to participate in the fight to remove all forms of discrimination that prevail against women.

Lilian is studying medicine and aims to become a doctor. It seems like a natural profession for a young girl who, at the age of 10, removed jiggers from a local boy's leg, which made it possible for him to walk freely again within a matter of days.

Of course, all of this makes Reeta Roy a very, very proud mentor and a very respected CEO, whose social investments in CAMFED and GGBC are indeed transforming lives. Reeta and Lilian (and GGBC and CAMFED) are co-creating a new world for African women, and this is possible largely because of the Clinton Global Initiative, according to Reeta Roy. Reeta praises CGI, saying, " CGI is an extraordinary place that brings together amazing people... people with dreams which have yet to be realized and people who have the funding to make those dreams possible. It's all about connections."

Visit YouTube.com/NataliePaceDOTCOM to watch my complete interview with Reeta Roy from September 21, 2011.

If you'd like to be a part of the solution, it's easier than you know. For just a small donation of money and a consistent donation of time, you too can be a Global Give Back Circle mentor. CAMFED can use more pens, books, shoes and scholarships for their scholars as well. Visit their websites to learn more.

About Lilian Kithiri:
Lilian Kathiri M’Nkubitu grew up in a rural village in Meru.  Her family resides in a typical rural homestead whereby several huts are constructed for various functions. One is used for cooking in a wood-burning pit. Another is where the girls sleep; another is where the boys sleep. And the fourth hut is used as a family gathering place where meals are shared.  

Lilian is the fourth born from a family of six children.  Education was always a priority in her family.  She worked very hard to earn a sponsorship to secondary school in Nairobi.  She was an A student.  She is now in her first year as a student at Egerton University, studying medicine and surgery.  For the past three years, she has been an active member of the Global Give Back Circle.  Lilian is a Butterfly in the circle and responsible for meeting with private sector heads and getting them to invest in girls! 

About Natalie Pace:
Natalie Pace is the author of You Vs. Wall Street. and Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is, and the founder and CEO of the Women’s Investment Network, LLC. She is a blogger on HuffingtonPost.com, and a repeat guest on national television and radio shows such as Good Morning America, Fox News, CNBC, ABC-TV, Forbes.com, NPR and more. As a philanthropist, she has helped to raise more than two million for Los Angeles public schools and financial literacy. Follow her on Facebook.com/NWPace. For more information please visit NataliePace.com.

Designer Sisters Rock the Red Carpet...

by Natalie Pace.

..on Jessica Alba and Anna Paquin and Win the 2011 Dorchester Collection Fashion Prize.

Anndra Neen wins the 2011 Dorchester Collection Fashion Prize. Sisters will showcase their jewelry and accessories at Paris Fashion Week 2012 and the iconic Hôtel Plaza Athénée.

Photo: 2011 Dorchester Collection Fashion Prize Grand Winners Phoebe and Annette Stephens, creators of Anndra Neen Photo Credit: Dorchester Collection.

On October 29, 2011, the Dorchester Collection awarded their second annual fashion prize to Anndra Neen at the "Pink Palace" Beverly Hills Hotel. Anndra Neen is the label of sisters Phoebe and Annette Stephens, who were born and raised in Mexico City, schooled at U.S. universities and have art in their DNA. Their grandmother, Annette Nancarrow, was a painter, sculptor and jewelry designer who was friends with such legendary artists as Frieda Kahlo, Diego Rivera and Anais Nin.

What made the sisters stand out among three other finalists? Consistent wow factor. In a field of strong talent, including Giulietta by Sofia Sizzi, Julian Louis and Siki Im, the sisters rocked the runway with eye-popping originality in every piece. From the mesh metal suitcase, to steel chokers and wrist armory, the effect of the metals and design is a very seductive blend of strength, power and sensuality -- something you could wear to a Wagner opera or on the red carpet -- as Jessica Alba and Anna Paquin have both done. This is Warrior Goddess couture at its finest.

Anndra Neen's New York Fashion Week "Trojan Horse" presentation. Photo Credit: Anndra Neen

The Dorchester Collection pride themselves not just on the prize money -- $40,000 -- but also on the opportunity afforded to the winning designers. Phoebe and Annette Stephens will showcase their Anndra Neen collection during Paris Fashion Week in 2012 at Hôtel Plaza Athénée, which is located in the heart of the Paris Haute Couture district. Christian Dior considered Hôtel Plaza Athénée his "second home" and named his Plaza and Athénée suits after the hotel. No doubt the Dorchester Collection hopes to launch Anndra Neen likewise into the eternal galaxy of fashion stars.

You'll start to see Anndra Neen's show-stopping jewelry and accessories in the pages of Vogue and Vanity Fair and in the fashion departments of high-end retail shops in 2012. And when you do, it will be thanks to the Dorchester Collection, owners of Hotel Bel-Air, the Beverly Hills Hotel and Hôtel Plaza Athénée, to name a few.

About Natalie Pace:
Natalie Pace is the author of You Vs. Wall Street. and Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is, and the founder and CEO of the Women’s Investment Network, LLC. She is a blogger on HuffingtonPost.com, and a repeat guest on national television and radio shows such as Good Morning America, Fox News, CNBC, ABC-TV, Forbes.com, NPR and more. As a philanthropist, she has helped to raise more than two million for Los Angeles public schools and financial literacy. Follow her on Facebook.com/NWPace. For more information please visit NataliePace.com.

Ivan Vasiliev The Greatest Dancer Alive

Living the Rich Life:

by Natalie Pace.

The Best of Ballet, Bel-Air and Puck.

5 Exclusive, Limited Time Opportunities.

Recently, a handful of once-in-a-lifetime opportunities have popped up -- in Tinsel Town and New York City. Like a star's 15 minutes of fame, each of these extraordinary experiences is fleeting. If you don't seize the moment now, while you can, chances are that you'll be watching the highlights on Internet TV instead of standing in the spotlight of one of your finest real-life dreams...

1. Wolfgang Puck at Hotel Bel-Air. If you are not an A-lister, then it is impossible to get a table at a premiere Wolfgang Puck restaurant, and for good reason. As Wolfgang always says, "There is no substitute for quality, passion and love," and that is exactly what you'll experience -- always -- in his signature dining establishments. However, the new Wolfgang Puck at Hotel Bel-Air restaurant caters to Hotel Bel-Air guests, offering a rare opportunity to be the first to sample Puck's delectable fare, when there will be an opportunity to secure a table. (The restaurant opened to the public on November 1, 2011.)

Wolfgang Puck features California cuisine, infused with European and Mediterranean influences. Puck's plates showcase fresh, locally grown produce, all natural poultry, sustainable seafood and only meats that have been raised humanely. (Sorry: no foie gras will be served.) As just one example of Puck's creative flair, he has reinvented Eggs Benedict. "The H.B.A. Benedict" is a rich combination of Kurobuta Pork Cheeks, Buttermilk-White Cheddar Biscuits and Maple - Bacon Hollandaise. The passion inspired by this breakfast can easily be carried through the day with a trip to the Bel-Air La Prairie spa, a walk around Swan Lake, or ...

The Wolfgang Puck at Hotel Bel-Air restaurant offers a private dining room that seats 14, if you have a special occasion to celebrate.

2. Hotel Bel-Air: Hip Serenity in Tinsel Town. Hotel Bel-Air re-opened, after a major renovation, on October 14, 2011. This legendary hotel, where Marilyn Monroe shot her last photo session, retains all of the canyon serenity that Hotel Bel-Air is legendary for, including the famous Swan Lake and grotto. Interior designer Alexandra Champalimaud has kept the vintage glam of the 30s, 40s and 50s, while spicing up the décor with an effortless indoor/outdoor flow and hip elegance.

Hotel Bel-Air is an exquisite special occasion destination. Create an unforgettable wedding for up to 180, where your vows are sealed outside by the swans, and your Wolfgang Puck dinner is served in the ballroom. Have an ultimate birthday or girls' escape in the La Prairie Spa Enclave, where up to 10 can enjoy spa services, outdoor dining and/or intimacy, in a relaxing and private setting. (One of my most memorable birthday parties was an all girls' pajama party with massages, Tarot, facials and Caipirinhas, something that the Enclave could easily accommodate.)

Available now through December 30, 2011, you can receive $200 dining credit, daily breakfast for 2 and $100 spa credit when you book a suite at Hotel Bel-Air (3-night minimum stay required). Other special offers include a spa package, a romantic escape or a deluxe breakfast getaway. These packages go a long way to making marquise luxury almost affordable. (So splurge a little!)

3. Kings of the Dance. Will American-born David Hallberg (Rapid City, South Dakota) be the greatest ballet star since Nureyev? While time will tell just how bright and far Hallberg's star shines, there is one thing for sure. Flipping the tables on Rudolf Nureyev, who was the first Russian ballet star to defect to the U.S. (in 1961), David Hallberg is the first American ballet star to join the fabled Bolshoi Ballet.

   Hallberg began ballet at the age of 13, and won the Benois de la Danse Award in 2010, at the age of 28. Hallberg will start at the Bolshoi on Nov. 4 in Giselle and then in productions of The Sleeping Beauty and Don Quixote. You can see Hallberg perform with the American Ballet Theater (in NYC) next May through July 2012. And Hallberg will star, with other leading men of ballet, in The Kings of the Dance in New York City, February 19-21, 2011.

   On the debut performance of the Kings of the Dance: Opus 3, at Segerstrom Hall in Costa Mesa, California, I was surprised to see the depth and breadth of talent in each of the Kings of Dance. Ivan Vasiliev of the Bolshoi Ballet stole the show, hands down, receiving a standing ovation after his solo that wouldn't have stopped if he didn't (finally) just leave the stage. Ivan's powerful leaps trump the true kings of dance (Nureyev & Baryshnikov) and his artful passion and sex appeal will surely grace the walls in posters and calendars of American households soon (ok, at least mine). Another unexpected bonus was the seamless way this troupe integrated hip hop and street moves into ballet, underscored by Latin rhythms. Teens with any dance in their genes will fall in love, as did the father/daughter duo sitting next to me! And how many ballet stars double as composers and choreographers, as Guillaume Côté (composer) and Marcelo Gomes (choreographer) do?

4. Tesla Roadster. The world's most exciting car has just become a collector's item. As the launch of the new Tesla S sedan is scheduled for mid-2012, the Tesla Roadster (sports car) is ceasing production, having hit their target of 2500 vehicles. That means that only about 20 roadsters remain available in the U.S. There are a lot of variables that could determine the future price of this extraordinary car, however, if you believe that EVs are the wave of the future, the Tesla Roadster is the defining moment in this nascent industry. In a world where collectible hard assets will hold their value far better than paper money, the Tesla Roadster might be a very good investment.
   
   
5. Beverly Hills Hotel: Legendary Glamour. The Beverly Hills Hotel is the icon of La La Land, where Beverly Hills was born. May 12, 2012 marks the 100th Anniversary, and now through May 12, there will be many extraordinary galas and events for the Centenary. As we get closer to the 100th Anniversary date, bungalows will be sold out, galas will be overbooked and there will be no availability to experience any of this magic. So, book your stay now, while prices are reasonable and rooms are still available.
   
   Enjoy your own cabana at the world-famous "Pink Palace" pool. Have sunset drinks overlooking the gardens in Bar Nineteen 12 (named for the year the hotel was born). Grab a quick bite or breakie in the intimate Fountain Coffee Room. Dazzle in your finest designer duds at the famous Polo Lounge.
   
   There are many special offers going on right now at the Beverly Hills Hotel. "And to all a free night" is a limited time offer to get a fourth night free and free transportation into Beverly Hills for shopping and dining during the holidays. Call 800-283-8885 to learn more.

Living the rich life is very, very different than trying to get rich.

Yours in pace and prosperity,

Natalie

About Natalie Pace:
Natalie Pace is the author of You Vs. Wall Street. and Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is, and the founder and CEO of the Women’s Investment Network, LLC. She is a blogger on HuffingtonPost.com, and a repeat guest on national television and radio shows such as Good Morning America, Fox News, CNBC, ABC-TV, Forbes.com, NPR and more. As a philanthropist, she has helped to raise more than two million for Los Angeles public schools and financial literacy. Follow her on Facebook.com/NWPace. For more information please visit NataliePace.com.

In Shape Vs. Being Healthy.

by Alvin Tam.

There’s a big difference between being in shape and being healthy. You can be healthy but not be in shape, and you can be in shape but not be in good health. When I was training for the circus I was in great shape. I was a lean 165 pounds, ripped to the core, training 8 to 10 hours a day. I’d start the morning with handstands and finish the day doing chin ups. Three times a week I would train MMA style at the local fighter’s gym and teach self-defense at night. This went on for four years.

But I was not healthy, despite my fit appearance, acrobatic agility, and intense physical lifestyle. I’d start the morning with a chocolate muffin and milk and finish the day eating instant Ramen noodles. Most of the week I was in pain – a rotating kind – where each day the suffering would migrate to a new part of the body. I had severe back issues for most of my second year in training, sprained ankles for most of my third, and uncountable cuts, bruises, bumps, and scars for the entire duration. I fought the flu at least 2 to 3 times a year. I ate randomly, whenever I wanted, and almost always the food contained sugar and white flour. I slept late, woke early, trained hard, and slept late again.

The outside projected pristine health – the glowing physical prowess of an athlete in training, full of youth, well-oiled body parts, and a fully revved engine. I was hitting red line RPMs with a smile on my face and eagerness in my heart. The totality of training was a way of being extreme, young, and fully alive.

I was definitely in shape but not healthy. Slowly, my body was falling apart. This youthful racecar was starting to hiccup and limp to the finish line. By the time I completed my training I was strong, skilled – and injured. My grand denouement or final act at the circus school was a pulled rib cartilage that rendered me incapable of even sitting up on my own. I was condemned to four weeks of shallow breathing, slow walking, and much time to reflect.

There was a gradual dawning that although I could make the packaging look good, the contents inside were rotting. I needed to invest in better foods, wiser training habits, and more sleep. Health was an elusive benefit that not even a professional acrobat was privy too. You had to work for health too.

Although today I may not be doing the same number of flips, jumps, and spins as I did during my training, I consider my current state as one of the healthiest ever. I am mostly without pain, with the exception of the occasional intense workout. I eat well and allow myself to be indulgent when I want to be. When I’ve had enough of Thanksgiving turkey, apple pie, and cider beer, my body tells me and I naturally bounce back to eating fresh, organic foods again. My body knows health, and is attracted to it.

I’m not at my performance weight but not far from it. I train when my body feels like moving – which is almost every day, but not always. I sit and watch Friends reruns and then get up and hike in the desert. The definition of health has changed for me over the years and it is by far the healthiest yet.

I used to never drink, fast for days, do week long herbal cleanses, and exercise religiously. It was a regiment of to do’s to align myself with what I thought was true health. I felt great for a while, but in the end, lost the rhythm of the cleanse, changed exercise programs, and gravitated to a new type of fast. It wasn’t consistent.

My current understanding of true health is the ability to carefully listen to the needs of your body and act upon them. Over-training is as dangerous as not moving at all. Severe diets, cleanses, and fasts can be as detrimental as junk food for breakfast everyday. There is only one book that can give you the recipe for greater health, and that book is written by you.

To drink in consciousness, to eat ice cream in consciousness, and to watch football in consciousness is a greater sign of health than exercising because a sheet of paper, handed to you by your trainer, tells you to do so. Developing consciousness is the greatest catalyst for developing sustainable and natural health, because you already know what you need. All you have to do is listen for it, and then act upon it.

About Alvin Tam
Alvin Tam is the founder of Soul Acrobats®, an inspirational products company and Acrofit™, an acrobatic fitness system. He has over 15 years of experience as a circus artist, stuntman, dancer, actor, and coach and has performed for Cirque du Soleil, Notre Dame de Paris, and appeared on CSI. Alvin’s passion is to inspire you to achieve your impossible.

Products: Visit - http://www.soulacrobats.com/products-page/
Book: The Art of Impossible
DVD: The Acrofit System Level 1, Expressive Yoga for the Soul

Alvin Tam’s life partner, Jada Fire, also shares her secrets to health and a flexible body and mind in her 60 minute instructional DVD Expressive Yoga for the Soul. Shot and produced by Alvin, Jada takes you on a journey of meditative restoration, invigorating breath work, and beginner-friendly yoga postures. Heal and inspire, with Jada Fire!

To Get Your Copy Visit: http://jadafire.com/

Life and Beyond.

by Marilyn Tam

.

Marilyn Tam.

The recent death of Steve Jobs, a man who dared to dream and create beyond the constraints of the prevailing consciousness, brought many people, including me, to a place of deep reflection. What does it mean to be really alive? How do I make sure that I am living my highest potential every day? How do I ensure that I will feel at peace when it is my time to leave this planet?

Since I write, speak and consult with companies and people internationally on helping them find their life mission and on establishing a path towards achieving it, this topic is especially relevant. Living the Life of Your Dreams, my latest book, is directly related to this subject. Steve Jobs’ many quotes and his personal history are being mined globally for more nuggets of wisdom right now. The hunger and admiration for commitment and dedication to a higher purpose is universal.

"Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." Steve Jobs

I believe the above quote holds a key to Jobs’ success. He followed his life purpose. He achieved what he was born to do. He didn’t have his life path handed to him on a silver platter. He was given up for adoption. He quit college after one semester because it was draining his parents’ entire life savings for him to attend. He still wanted to learn, so he slept on the floor of his friends’ dorm rooms. He sold soft drink bottles that he scavenged, to get money for food, so he could sneak in to attend classes.

What was remarkable about this story -- aside from the passion he had for learning-- was what he said about the experience. He said that not having to fulfill course requirements for a specific degree freed him to learn what fascinated him. He followed his intuition and curiosity. And his interests rewarded him and all of us. One of the classes he took was a calligraphy class. Ten years later, he added the myriad of fonts he learned in that class to the typography in the first Macintosh. Our world of computer communication is richer and much more expressive because of that.

How are we living our lives? Are we doing what we are put on this earth to do? Are we fulfilling our life destiny?

Like many of my worldly successful clients, you may not be in touch with your life purpose yet. Although they may have all the trappings of what we are acculturated to believe are accomplished and happy lives, they still feel something is missing. Usually that missing something is that they forgot or did not listen to their own personal dream. They are living the dream life that the media has convinced us is what we all want, but inside they are unfulfilled.

Truly there is no panacea to compensate for the hollowness, restlessness and lack of inner peace that comes from living someone else’s life. Money and/or crowd adulation cannot fill the hole of inner longing.

"Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans." John Lennon

Of course there are the lucky and/or blessed ones who discover what they are meant to do early in life. For you, it may be some inherent knowing that you’ve had since you were a child. Or it may be a trigger event or moment, which awoke in you your life calling. I am blessed to say that I was fortunate to have this experience when I was eleven years old. Knowing my life purpose has given me the strength to pick myself up after the many times I’ve fallen down -- and to follow my inner guidance to achieve my dream life. I feel it is now my privilege to support others in following their dreams.

How does one go about finding your life mission? Look inside. It is there inside of you all along. There is an old parable about how Spirit placed the most valuable thing for us to know inside of us so that we have to be in touch with our hearts to find it. We have to quiet the numerous voices of the media, friends, and even our family to ask ourselves what is really true for us.

You may find it hard to hear your inner voice immediately, if this is a new experience for you. Please be patient, it may take several times before you begin to get an inkling of it. Your innermost desire may be buried under many layers of outside voices over the years. There are tools that can help you access your inner wisdom. A very effective one is journaling. The very act of writing things down helps clarify ideas. Another one is to do a collage. Choosing pictures and words that evoke a sense of joy and peace in you helps elicit your core purpose.

Let the thoughts and ideas gradually coalesce into a more coherent form. Allow this process to take the time it needs. Be easy on yourself. Step-by-step, you will sense what has been calling to you all along.

Getting some clarity in your present moment will give you more perspective on what’s important versus what’s urgent. It will give you ideas of how you can go towards your ideal life. Also smile, yes, even when you don’t feel like it. The very act of moving those smile muscles will help to relax you and quiet the noises inside your head. It’s almost like magic!

Enjoy your life journey, and may you always Live the Life of Your Dreams. So when the time comes for you to transition from this planet, you will feel at peace and be contented that you have indeed lived the life you were born to live.

Marilyn Tam is an international selling author, speaker, entrepreneur, humanitarian and former CEO of Aveda, President of Reebok Apparel Products & Retail Group and VP of Nike.

Marilyn wrote her books, How to Use What You’ve Got to Get What You Want and Living the Life of Your Dreams, so that others can learn from the experiences and secrets of successful and happy people and from her own experience. You can find out more about Marilyn on her website MarilynTam.com and connect with her on Facebook.

Dow is Up 1000 Points.

by Natalie Pace.

November 2, 2011

General Stock Market Performance

Wall Street Highs/Lows in the New Millennium:

Hot News on Cool Stocks Important Data
Up to 18X gains on U.S. Gold, our 2009 Company of the Year!
NASDAQ Doubled the Dow Jones Industrial Average gains from 2009-2011
Gold continues momentum, at 28% gains so far in 2011 (-8% off of high of $1,895/ounce set on 9.5.11)
13 out of 14 Company of the Month features from 2010 posted gains.
Gold tops stocks, real estate, bonds and T-Bills Over the Last 10 Years.

Compare those returns to the returns of stocks, real estate, bonds, Treasury bills and gold over the last 30 years.

Market Update:
We're in the Money
Yesterday's headline was that this is the worst November opening on Wall Street since 1932 (Dow down -2.79%). Last week, we had one of the best news ever. October S&P 500 gains were 10.77%, fueling one of the best October performances on record. What's the real score? The Dow is flat on the year, but up over 1000 points from the October 1 lows... Rollercoaster ride...

At the beginning of October, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had bottomed out to an annual low of 10,404. Today, you're 14% richer. Buying stock in your favorite company during this wild ride feels crazy, however, those who do are already in the money. On October 3, 2011, I highlighted 38 companies and all 38 were up by mid-October, earning between 10-40% gains.

Now the question is, if you purchased and are in the money (and if you purchased on October 3-4, 2011, you are in the money), should you take your profits or hang on for the Santa Rally? Below are five key considerations.

1. Eurozone
2. Pre-Election Year
3. Santa Rally
4. U.S. Credit Risk
5. Corporate Earnings

Rollercoaster of Debt, Credit Risk and Corporate Earnings
The reason that the markets are the most thrilling rollercoaster in the world right now is that two forces, one with Death Star like gravitational pull and the other effervescent as the birth of a star, battle for dominance day in and day out. The debt problems in PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain in the Eurozone) and the credit risk (political stupidity) in the U.S. scare the heck out of investors. Then strong corporate earnings seduce investors back in, giving us all hope that Main Street will start experiencing some recovery. As you can see in the chart from my article "Buying Low Stinks," earnings per share in the S&P 500 companies are higher than they have been since 1999.

As for the Pre-Election Year and Santa Rally, those trends were shattered in 2007, when the mortgage banking system went into a tailspin, creating the Great Recession.

Performance of the Dow Jones Industrial Average
January 1, 2007 to January 1, 2009

Source: Money.MSN.com (for illustration purposes only)

The below chart illustrates just how different things are in the post-bailout world. Over the past twenty years, the trend was that most months were positive, with slight pullbacks once a quarter. Over the past five years, the swings are triple and quadruple what they were and there are as many months in the red as there are gainers. Clearly, we're still roiling in the aftermath of bailing out our banks and legacy corporations.

Source: Standard and Poor’s data, Natalie Pace data crunch © 2011

While the Spring Rally (March and April) has been stronger than ever since the Great Recession, every month from October to March has been ugly, except for December.

It is unlikely that the last quarter of 2011 will party like it's 1999. As long as this dance between wishful optimism and Apocalyptic fear continues, there will be volatility. So, anytime you're in the money, your best mantra is to take your profits early and often. For nest egg investors, that means, at minimum, that you must be rebalancing 1-3 times per year. Buy and hold doesn't work anymore.

It is also critically important to get safe (and know what is safe), avoid the Bailouts, add in Hot Industries, lean into growth and go light on value (where the Bailouts are all stashed). If you relied on your financial planner to do that for you and ended up with a cracked nest egg, the solution is to get the financial literacy education that you should have received in high school. This all may sound difficult, but it is really easy as a pie chart. And once you know what a healthy nest egg looks like, then you can hire the perfect contractor (Certified Financial Planner) to build and nurture it.

Investor Edu Retreat:
Modern Portfolio Theory (what my Easy-as-a-Pie Chart Nest Egg strategy is based upon) saved Bill and Nilo Bolden's nest egg in the Great Recession and had novice investors doubling the returns of the Dow over the last few years. Call 310-430-2397 NOW to learn how you can attend a boardroom retreat with just 12 others, learning these strategies hands-on from me.

Investor Alerts:
1. OPEC: The trade imbalance with OPEC is currently over $12 billion per month, which is one of the top assassins of GDP growth. Be sure to read my article, "Oil is Killing U.S. Growth," from the November 2011 ezine, volume 8, issue 11.

2. Debt: Standard & Poor's lowered the U.S. debt rating from AAA to AA+  on August 5, 2011. The Budget Plan of August 2, 2011 fell short by almost $2 trillion.  A lowered debt rating means we will likely pay more interest -- potentially a lot more -- which makes it even more difficult to balance the budget and spark GDP growth. 

3. Real Estate: There were 9.3 million foreclosure filings between 2007 and 2010. At least 3.7 million properties are in a seriously delinquent stage. This means that there will no upside in real estate prices (except in certain cities) until 2013. Could be a good time to buy, while interest rates are low. If you are underwater on your mortgage or delinquent on your payments and are considering the "unthinkable," email Heather at NataliePace.com to get the links to some very important articles.

4. 911 Investor Alert: Bonds and Treasury Bills. Read up on how to understand the risk in bonds and select high quality safe areas for your money in two featured bond articles in the May 2011 ezine (volume 8, issue 5). In the meantime, low-risk, cash-positive hard assets are King (and no, I'm not suggesting to go all in on gold, see below). Bonds and bond funds are vulnerable to loss of principal value now. Interest rates will rise (eventually) if the U.S. debt problem is not fixed. It might take a few months or even a few years, but without reform, credit risk will increase, driving up interest rates.

5. Gold: If you purchased gold at $850/ounce in 1980, you had to wait 26 years for the value to return. Most of the time, gold seesawed between $250-$350 an ounce over that period. Now, with prices near $1800/ounce, large holders of gold, including the United States, Brazil and more, could be tempted to sell high. For a brief history of gold and information on which countries are the biggest holders of gold, read, "The Gold Crash of 1980," from the September 2010 ezine, volume 7, issue 9. Gold continues to be a hot industry, but you do not want to be all in and be careful about buying high.

So is There Anything Good Out There?
Yes, believe it or not, there are some excellent areas in the economy. My 2009 Company of the Year, U.S. Gold, posted up to 18X gains. Applied Materials, the 2010 Company of the Year, posted 25% gains within a few months of being named. 13 out of 14 Companies featured in my Company of the Month articles in 2010 were winners. Your nest egg has almost fully recovered from the Great Recession. If you have a great credit rating and can get a loan, there are areas of the country where you can buy cash positive, low risk income property. And even if you're in trouble, in doubt, losing a home or declaring bankruptcy, there are some very important things to do to squirrel away as many assets as possible. The best way to learn about these things is to read this ezine top to bottom, read You Vs. Wall Street and register to attend the next Get Rich and Enrich Retreat. Once you have the wisdom and education that you should have received in high school, all of this will be easy and can be set up on auto-pilot. Until then, you are vulnerable to more boom/bust markets.

Banks Are Still Failing
There were 157 bank failures in 2010, 140 bank failures in 2009 and 25 in 2008. 85 banks have already failed in 2011 (source: FDIC.gov). Don't be seduced by the banks reporting record earnings! Most of them are fairy tales. (Nonproducing loans are carried off the books; TARP and other Federal Reserve swaps are about as easy to figure out as the origin of the life.) 13 million homes (or more) will be lost between 2007 and 2012 and not all of them hitting the financial statements with as much force as they should...

Track Record of our Reporting
While the markets are still down significantly since their high in October of 2007, the Hot News and Cooling Off lists below have a winning track record before, during and after the Great Recession -- in bear and bull market years. 124 positions listed over the last four years -- 84% -- have delivered impressive gains, even while the Dow Jones Industrial Average is still trading lower than it was in 2007 (when it cracked through 14,000)! Only twenty-three of our listings went in the opposite direction of the reporting, which is quite impressive given the market gyrations of more than 7000 point swings since 2008.

Remember that the trading portfolio should be equal to your experience, and should not be part of your nest egg. (The nest egg is money you earn while you sleep, not while you day-trade.) If you're new, you should be using education or fun money, not your nest egg, to learn on. Take your trading profits early and often in these volatile, whip-sawing years. (Your nest egg is better off just rebalancing once or twice a year, not trying to market time.)

Half of My Company of the Year selections more than doubled.  My 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2009 Companies of the Year posted up to 9000% gains (Taser), up to 690% gains (Opsware), up to 215% gains (Suntech Power Holdings), and up to 18X ROI for U.S. Gold, respectively. Applied Materials, 2010 Company of the Year, and MySpace, my 2006 Company of the Year, were both super performers within a few short months of their listings.   So seven out of nine Company of the Year selections were the best Wall Street has to offer. That's the kind of record that made me a #1 stock picker.  (I launched my first publication on 11.15.02, and featured the first Company of the Year, Taser International, on 1.1.03.)

13 out of 14 companies featured in the Company of the Month articles in 2010 earned gains -- 93%! Some other big hits were Google at the IPO (over 7X gains), Rio Tinto (tripled in value) and shorts like Fannie Mae (in 2003), real estate (2005), General Motors (2005) and Las Vegas (2008).

The NataliePace.com ezine was the first to list the following 911 alerts:

1. Muni bond and bond funds 911 Investor Alert in Sept. 2010.
2. 2008 Recession (Get Safe)
3. Trim back on Faded Blue Chips in 2006
4. Get out of Dodge (real estate) in 2005
5. Google at the IPO! (May 2004)
6. To get Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac out of your 401(k) in 2003

Market Movers:
The Federal Open Market Committee and Monetary Policy
The Fed funds rate continues to be "0 to 1/4 percent." The next FOMC meeting takes place on December 13, 2011.

GDP Growth Rates: The advance estimates of 3rd quarter GDP growth were better than expected, at 2.5%. However the revisions have been downward of late. 1st quarter 2011 GDP growth rates were revised downward to 0.4% (blame the high price of oil). So, don't assume this growth rate will hold over the next two months. 3rd quarter 2011 (second estimates) will be released on November 22, 2011 at 8:30 a.m. ET.

GDP Growth in the U.S.

Source: BEA.gov

These release days tend to be very active on Wall Street.  For more information on GDP growth and other important economic statistics, go to the BEA.gov website and be sure to visit the NataliePace.com calendar section often.

EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITES AND INFORMATION:
1. FOMC Information: Interested in reading the press release of the September 20-21, 2011 FOMC meeting for yourself? The official Federal Reserve document is available online. Go to FederalReserve.gov to read! According to the Committee, "he Committee continues to expect a moderate pace of economic growth over coming quarters... [But] there are significant downside risks to the economic outlook, including strains in global financial markets."

The tentative FOMC meeting schedule for the 2011-2012 calendar is December 13, 2011 (Tuesday), January 24-25, 2012 (Tues.-Wed.), March 13, 2012 (Tuesday), April 24-25 (Tuesday-Wednesday), June 19-20 (Tuesday-Wednesday), July 31 (Tuesday), September 12 (Wednesday), October 23-24 (Tuesday-Wednesday), December 11 (Tuesday), January 29-30, 2013 (Tuesday-Wednesday).

2. Calendar Section: Conferences, Online Chats and more: Check out the Calendar section of NataliePace.com regularly. You will find great opportunities to attend the most exclusive business and Green Conferences, learn about upcoming TV and radio shows and other educational opportunities -- many are FREE! Get more information on how to best use our articles in the FAQs article, located under the Investor Edu link on the home page of NataliePace.com.

Don't miss the Pace and Prosperity Show with Natalie Pace on BlogTalkRadio.com. Check BlogTalkRadio.com/NataliePace for upcoming shows and call-in and log-on instructions and to listen back to any shows that you might have missed. These shows are pod casts and are FREE!

BlogTalkRadio offers a Q&A format, where you can call in with your most pressing questions. Be sure to keep a list of your questions as they come up, and join our ongoing dialog on peace and prosperity, getting rich and enriching, green investing, the Thrive Budget and more on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/NWPace.

3. Survey Results: Each month we have three new surveys so that we can stay in touch with your needs and desires. Cast your vote on our survey page.

4. Euro interest rates: ECB rates are at 1.50% (main refinancing), 2.25% (marginal lending) and 0.75% (deposit facility). The next meeting and interest rate announcement are scheduled for November 3, 2011 at 2:30 p.m. CET. (November 17, 2011 & December 8, 2011 after that.)

Hot Stocks List
Investors who "never pay retail," note that the BOLD highlighted stocks are trading at their 52-week lows or near the price featured in NataliePace.com's article. This may be a good buying opportunity. (If the stocks are not highlighted, then in our estimation, this is not a good time to buy. Reasons are explained in the news commentary.) The companies that are listed below which are not highlighted may not be in a good buying range, but they appear to be poised to continue performing well (if you have already purchased them). There are never any guarantees in life, and all stocks are risk-based investments. Consult your certified financial planner before making any changes to your investment strategy. And remember that these "Stocks on Steroids" are not intended to be part of your nest egg strategy at all -- not even for "pros." If you've never traded individual stocks before, this is your "fun" or "education" money. You should not stake your future on anything that you don't have mastery over.

Hot News List (highlighted).  Be sure that you are buying low.
Galaxy Resources (GALXF)

DELETIONS (Take your profits early and often):
Eldorado Gold (EGO) on 9.7.11

HOT NEWS on COOL STOCKS LIST

Deleted Companies 2010-2011:
Deleted 1.11.10: KCI with 88% gains! Deleted 8.1.10: Galaxy Resources with 48% and 9% returns and Rio Tinto with 21% gains. Deleted 9.13.10: American Superconductor (flat) & AOL (flat). 10.1.10: Blockbuster busted out in bankruptcy on 9.28.10. KLAC was deleted with 11% gains. 10.15.10: ENER1 was deleted with flat performance. 11.11.10: ENER1 was deleted with 37% gains. VECO was deleted with 2% & 41% gains. 12.1.10: KLIC was deleted with 12% gains. 1.14.11: Advanced Materials was deleted with 30% gains. 2.2.11: BEARX with losses of 14%. 2.14.11: U.S. Gold with 14.5X gains. 6.13.11: EPU with flat performance. 9.7.11: Deleted Eldorado Gold with 38% & 52% gains.

Deleted Companies 2008-2009:
60 winners and 9 losers.

Recently Deleted from the Hot News list:
None

Stocks to Watch
Some of these are great companies that we're thinking of adding to the Hot List and some are stinkers we're thinking of adding to the Cooling Off List.  Read carefully to identify which is which!  Note that right now most of our favorite companies are on the Watch List. Getting the price right is as important as picking the right company. Never pay retail!

Recent Additions:
None

Recent Deletions:
SPDR S&P Emerging Middle East & Africa (GAF) moved to Hot List on 10.1.11
Canadian Imperial Commerce Bank (CM) moved to Hot List on 10.1.11
FMC Corp. (FMC) moved to the Hot List on 10.1.11
Netflix (NFLX) moved to Hot List on 10.1.11
Sociedad Minera & Chimica (SQM) moved to the Hot List on 10.1.11
iShares S&P Tech Semiconductors (SOXX) moved to Hot List on 10.1.11
Tesla Motor Company (TSLA) moved to Hot List on 10.1.11
VMWare (VMW) moved to Hot List on 10.1.11

Cooling Off Stocks List (may be Poised for a Decline in Share Price).
Note: The companies listed in bold have recently been added to this cooling off list and/or may be currently poised for a decline in value. Investors who have them in their portfolio should read the recent news and consider whether it is time to sell and take profits, dump losses, short the position and/or simply weather the storms, while keeping the company in their long-term portfolio. At any rate, always consult your certified financial partner before making adjustments to your portfolio. (Again, note that the stocks on this chart are expected to go DOWN in price.)

ALERT: We are in a pre-election year. The markets have been volatile and down-trending, but oil prices have backed off and GDP growth is expected to pick up in the coming quarters. So, even though consumer sentiment is down, now may not be the best time to initiate a short position. Some of the stocks on the list below are here simply to keep you from buying them high.

Highlighted Companies (Cooling Off List):
None

DELETIONS:
None

Deleted in 2010-2011:
Deleted AMAT on 8.1.10 with gains of 12.5% & 7% (put gains would be double or more). 8.30.10: Deleted FIG (-10% & -40%), MXWL (-37%), MDT (-4% & -24%), MSFT (-20%) -- all for gains. Deleted MGM 9.13.10 for 61% gains. Deleted Tesla on 1.14.11 with 20% & 24% gains. 3.1.11: Deleted Shutterfly with12% gain (cooling off gain) and Sears with mixed results (up & down). 3.11.11: Deleted PIMCO Muni Bond fund with flat performance. Deleted Amazon, American Express, Capital One, Ford, Kulicke & Soffa, Netflix, Taubman, VMWare with mixed results. Deleted Apple, Baidu, Berkshire Hathaway, Intel, Transocean & Wells Fargo with losses. 4.28.11: ABAT with 51% gains. 6.13.11: LinkedIn was deleted with 25% gains, Orocobre with 18% gains, Shutterfly with 20% gains, Priceline with mixed performance and eBay was deleted with flat performance. 6.23.11: Yahoo was deleted with 12% gains. 8.15.11: LinkedIn with 10-11% gains, Netflix with -6-18% gains, Priceline with 6% gains, Tesla with 7% gains. Wynn Resorts was deleted with mixed results. 8.31.11: Toyota was deleted with gains of 14%.

Deleted 2008-2009:
19 gainers and no losers.

Recently Deleted:
None

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER (PLEASE READ):

Please note: NataliePace.com does not act or operate like a broker. We report on financial news, and are one of the most trusted independently owned and operated financial news corporations in the U.S. This article is intended to educate and inform individual investors, and, thus, to give investors a competitive edge in their personal decision-making. The publicly traded companies mentioned in this article are not intended to be buy or sell recommendations. ALWAYS do your research and consult an experienced, reputable financial professional before buying or selling any security, and consider your long-term goals and strategies.

Investors should NOT be using the Hot News on Cool Stocks list or the Cooling Off list to trade their nest eggs. Your retirement plan should reflect a long, safe strategy, which has been designed with the assistance of a financial professional who is familiar with your goals, risk tolerance, tax needs and more. The "trading" portion of your portfolio should be a very small part of your investment strategy, and the amount of money you invest into individual companies should never be greater than your experience, wisdom, knowledge and patience.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: Information has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable however NataliePace.com does not warrant its completeness or accuracy. Opinions constitute our judgment as of the date of this publication and are subject to change without notice. This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any financial instrument. Securities, financial instruments or strategies mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors.

NataliePace.com Calendar:

Investor Educational Retreats, Green Conferences and Scorpio Birthdays. Ouch! Hot!

The NataliePace.com Calendar section features conferences, teleconferences, retreats, educational opportunities, cultural events, galas, market events and online chats with executives and VIPs. Stay plugged in! We add online chats, article updates, teleconferences, etc. as they are booked, so be sure to visit the calendar section early and often.  Below is only a partial listing of what’s happening this month.

To access links to the event website and registration, go to the Calendar section at NataliePace.com.

FOMC Meeting
November 1-2, 2011
The Federal Open Market Committee meets to determine Federal Reserve policy in the U.S. Two-day meeting November 1-2, 2011.

OPEC World Oil Outlook
Tuesday, November 8th, 2011
The WOO is an annual in-depth analytical review of various scenarios for the short-, medium- and long-term of the oil industry.

Investor Edu Retreat, Santa Monica, CA
November 11-13, 2011
In 2007, the Dow was at 14,000; in 2000, NASDAQ was at 5,000 (more than double what it is today). Buy and hold doesn't work. Learn the strategies that the pros use. Natalie Pace makes it easy as a pie chart in a 3-day boardroom retreat. Only a few seats remain. Call 310-430-2397 to register now.

The Golden Motorcycle Gang book release
Friday, November 11th, 2011
"We are living at a critical moment in human history. Our goal is to provide readers with both entertainment & inspiration to help us find our own specific connection to assisting in the POSITIVE SHIFT." Author Bill Gladstone.

Opportunity Green Conference, LA, CA
Friday, November 11th, 2011
Opportunity Green 2009 is a 2-day event that brings together the most innovative leaders in sustainability and promotes disruptive change. Discussions. Workshops. Valuable insights. A must-attend for any Greenie.

Occupy Wall Street Radio Show
Wednesday, November 16th, 2011
9:00AM through 9:30AM ET
The easiest and most immediate way to make your voice heard is to stop investing in corrupt companies and start supporting companies you love. It's easier to do than you know. Learn how in this show! Call-in: (347) 215-7305.

Play the Billionaire Game
Thursday, November 17th, 2011
9:00AM through 9:30AM ET
Call-in: (347) 215-7305. How would you live if you had all the money in the world? You cannot create the life of your dreams if you cannot even imagine it. So, read chapter 8 of You Vs. Wall Street and then join Natalie Pace to play the Billionaire Game.

Jerry West Book Signing. Santa Monica, CA
Thursday, November 17th, 2011
4:30PM through 6:00PM PT
Join Jerry West, a 14-time NBA all star, as he discusses his new book, West by West, My Charmed, Tormented Life.

GDP 3Q 2011 (2nd Estimate)
Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011
8:30AM through 8:45AM ET
The U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA.gov) releases its second estimate on GDP growth in the 3rd Quarter of 2011.

Thanksgiving
Thursday, November 24th, 2011

FOMC Meeting
Tuesday, December 13th, 2011
The Federal Open Market Committee meets to determine Federal Reserve policy in the U.S.

Winter Solstice
Thursday, December 22nd, 2011
The depth of winter!

NOTICE: NataliePace.com is NOT a stock brokerage service, and does not operate or act as one.