August 29, 2012
- One, two, three powerful studies behind the “nutraceutical” Patrick Cox can’t stop talking about
- John Paulson tries to talk his fellow hedgies down from dumping their gold… and dumping him
- Chuck Butler on why the sickly euro still has a healthy glow
- Another plus for an emerging market that lies “beyond the BRICs”
- The investing insights of Mike Tyson… new California real estate tales to make your hair stand on end… shirking jury duty and prosecuting Mother Theresa… and more!
“The next big step in the nutraceutical story,” Patrick Cox wrote last September, “will be the release of clinical data.”
Almost a year later, it’s here. The next big step is nigh.
Longtime readers know Patrick’s been on the case of a “nutraceutical” — a dietary supplement — that can battle many of the diseases that come with aging. Anecdotal evidence is already abundant… including Patrick’s own experience with the product. Now the science to back it up is about to start flooding in.
What makes the story so fascinating is the product’s origins — in the tobacco plant.
Yes, you read that right — tobacco.
“So far,” Patrick writes, “many of us have experienced relief from many irritating inflammatory conditions. This alone is fantastic, but the bigger question is whether or not this drug delays or prevents the life-destroying conditions like Alzheimer’s, cancers and cardiovascular disease.”
The research to date has been compelling:
- August 2011: Research reveals remarkable painkilling capabilities. The product brings down Interleukin-1 beta levels in the bloodstream to one-third the level of aspirin or ibuprofen… and one-fourth the level of Celebrex
- January 2012: A human clinical trial proved that the product lowers the levels of C-reactive protein in your bloodstream. CRP, as it’s known, is what causes inflammation… and science has linked inflammation to nearly every disease of aging.
Now the research is about to take a quantum leap. A world-renowned research institute has enrolled the first human patient in a study of the product’s effects on Alzheimer’s disease.
The trial will take only three months… so results should be in very quickly.
“If, as I predict, this study yields positive results,” Patrick says, “the impact on sales of the nutraceutical, which continue to increase at an astonishing rate, will be significant. I would be surprised as well if some big pharm did not step in to make a deal.”
“We have known for a long time,” says one of the lead researchers, “that Alzheimer’s disease has a large inflammatory component. We also have observed the anti-inflammatory effects of [the tobacco compound] in laboratory tests, which is why we anticipate evidence of anti-inflammatory effects in this population.”
That’s the official story. The unofficial one is even more promising: Patrick is in constant contact with the researchers on the case. He says, “Confidence that this drug will slow or reverse AD is very, very high.”
Already, sales of the product are up 560% for the six months ended in June. Positive results from the Alzheimer’s study — again, it’s a three-month proposition — could easily double that already phenomenal rate of sales growth.
Patrick is eager to share more details of the research that’s already in… and the wealth-building potential of the company behind the product. You’ll find it all at this link.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, there’s little movement in the major U.S. stock indexes today. The S&P sits at 1,410.
The few traders not on vacation could barely summon the strength to yawn after the Commerce Department came out with its latest guess at second-quarter GDP. It was a mediocre 1.7%, up from the first guess of an even-more-mediocre 1.5%.
Precious metals are taking a breather after the run-up of recent days. Gold has retreated about 10 bucks, to $1,658. Silver has pulled below $31, to $30.75.
The subprime-shorting hedge fund genius John Paulson has gone to bat for the Midas metal during a conference call with advisers and clients from Bank of America’s wealth-management unit.
Alert 5 readers will recall our item two weeks ago that Paulson grew his stake in the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) by 26% during the second quarter. But not everyone buys into his gold thesis: Paulson organized the call yesterday after Citigroup’s private bank withdrew $410 million from Paulson’s two biggest funds.
“Long bullish on gold,” writes Dorothy Kosich at Mineweb, “Paulson reiterated during the call that his bets on gold will pay off although current returns are disappointing.”
Isn’t that so typical of Wall Street’s what-have-you-done-for-me-lately mentality? Gold sat mired in the high $1,500s-low $1,600s a few months and they’re ready to walk away.
Presumably you’re reading The 5 in part because you know better. And if you’re looking to add to your metals position, you should know our friends at the Hard Assets Alliance are about to close the window on their offer to waive the account setup fee. The Hard Assets Alliance is the simplest way to buy gold online that we’ve ever run across… and for three more days, account setup is still free.
Take advantage while you can, before midnight this Friday. Note: We may be compensated once you fund your account.
The euro sits at an eight-week high this morning — $1.2555. Thus the dollar index has been pushed down to 81.45, on the low end of its trading range the last three months.
Why all the euro resilience? “No one wants to be short going into September and all the event risks that will take place,” writes EverBank’s Chuck Butler this morning.
“If the German Constitutional Court agrees that the ESM funds can be used to recapitalize the troubled Spanish Banks, without the government getting their hands on the money first, one HUGE obstacle for Spain will have been removed. And with the markets now feeling that contagion isn’t going to happen, the euro could be in store for a nice rally.”
By the way, that’s the scenario Chuck believes will play out when the court rules on Sept. 12, although he admits he’s out on a limb.
Here’s a development that looks like another feather in Colombia’s cap: The government is about to take up peace talks with the left-wing rebel group FARC.
FARC has given Colombians fits since the 1960s. On my visit with Addison last year, we quickly discovered everyone in Colombia knows someone who’d been killed or maimed in a guerrilla attack.
Cynics note that there’ve been peace talks before. During the last round from 1998-2002, FARC used them as an opportunity to regroup and rearm.
But that was before the defense minister waged a scorched-earth campaign that’s chased FARC to the most-remote reaches of the country. For most Colombians, FARC attacks are a now only a bad memory.
That defense minister, Juan Manuel Santos, is now the president. Him leading peace talks has a sort of Nixon-in-China quality. It bolsters the investment case for Colombia.
As it happens, our friends at EverBank like what they see in Colombia, too. That’s why they’ve put together a new MarketSafe CD built around the Colombian peso and three other emerging-market currencies: the South Korean won, the Israeli shekel and the Turkish lira. Like all MarketSafe CDs, your principal is 100% protected, and your upside is unlimited. The funding deadline is Sept. 12 — only two weeks away.
Get set for the investment insights of Mike Tyson.
“The boxer with the furious fists,” reports CNBC, “who has, in his own words, behaved like a ‘Neanderthal’ for much of his life, will appear at an annual forum of clients of the brokerage CLSA on Sept. 12.”
That’s right. Mike Tyson will be a keynote speaker at the Asian brokerage firm’s annual forum.
Yes, the man who once said during an interview, “Sometimes I put on a ski mask and dress in old clothes, go out on the streets and beg for quarters,” (to say nothing of a bankruptcy filing in 2003) will address the financial world’s glitterati.
We’d love to know what sort of speaking fee he commands…
This is not by accident. This is the CLSA, whose own chief executive, Jonathan Slone, calls the place an “insane asylum.” And the CLSA that’s invited Sarah Palin and George Clooney to speak at their annual functions as well. And yes, the CLSA that organized a pole dancing show for their investors in Tokyo right after the 2008 meltdown.
“We like to party,” Mr. Slone unapologetically told The Wall Street Journal, “and our clients like to join us.”
No doubt. Especially since they’re the ones footing the bill.
We wonder if the Chinese — who are buying CLSA from France’s Credit Agricole — will feel the same…
“I’m not ready to party like it’s 2002 with the latest revelations from the folks at Case-Shiller,” writes a California reader who sounds very plugged in to the property market.
“The individual stories behind the scenes should continue the short roller coaster of late, leaving us no clear direction as you aptly described. Scarier are the stories behind the scenes not making headlines.
“Case No. 1: Agent that leveraged his relationship with the lender to get a foreclosure listing and then let the grass grow high and the pool grow green, took the worst and fewest pictures for the listing and when no bites came in, bought it themselves for $75,000 less than the already low list price. Thirty days later, it was a flip for a quick $300,000 profit.
“Case No. 2: Couple upside-down on their condo gets a loan mod and then secures a 95% loan to buy another house with the full intention of renting the condo, and strategically defaulting while the cash pays for the new toys and improvements to the house. Their only question is how long they can ride the gravy train until foreclosure.
“Case No. 3: Agent in an extremely distressed area cold calls underwater owners recommending that they quit paying their mortgage, shove the money in a mattress and re-buy when they get kicked out. In some areas, it’s taking as long as five years. Aided by the cash they saved and with her as the selling agent, they will have an available inventory of foreclosure properties to consider.
“Setting aside any moral outrage or situational ethics rationalizations, this has become a gamer’s market. And the game will remain on until either the brute force of supply/demand flushes out the junk or ‘you broke it… you bought it’ comes back in vogue. I’m not holding my breath for either.”
“I’m not one to tell people how to shirk their jury duty either,” writes a reader prefacing his contribution to our ongoing discussion.
“But it seems to me that the process already screens out most of the smart ones by sending a summons in the mail without the need for a signature. I have received these notices in the mail from time to time every other year or so and I simply file them in the round file. If you respond to the summons, they’ve got you! I’m 62 and it’s worked so far.”
[Note: The 5 bears no responsibility if you try this at home and get a different result…]
“I so agree with the reader who wrote about the present-day weakening of the jury system by various means, with the result that juries may no longer render independent verdicts, nor decide whether a law is fair and valid, as was their duty in the olden days.
“I became aware of this as a juror during a civil trial, when by the wording of the court’s instructions, the outcome was opposite to our verdict.
“When I was elected jury foreman for a criminal case, I stated my reluctance to accept the court’s instructions, and was threatened by the judge with jail time unless I went along. Having a family and an employer needing me, I caved in.”
“I was summoned for federal grand jury duty in 1989 for the North Central District of Texas, was made foremen and served through 1991.
“About 95% of our cases were involving narcotics, with a smattering of counterfeiting, etc. I was between jobs, so I didn’t fight it. Last year, at 76, I got called up again, but slipped out of the net because of my age.
“The main thing I learned was that every one of us should be terrified of our government’s selective use of its enforcement and interpretation of the law. And that was over 20 years ago and I cannot imagine what has been passed into law since then. I have read that the average person commits a felony every day, I cannot declare that correct or not, but know that there are laws for catching nearly anyone anytime if you irritate the wrong person.”
The 5: “At the federal prosecutor’s office in the Southern District of New York,” reads a memorable Slate article from 2007, “the staff, over beer and pretzels, used to play a darkly humorous game. Junior and senior prosecutors would sit around, and someone would name a random celebrity — say, Mother Theresa or John Lennon.
“It would then be up to the junior prosecutors to figure out a plausible crime for which to indict him or her. The crimes were not usually rape, murder or other crimes you’d see on Law & Order, but rather the incredibly broad yet obscure crimes that populate the U.S. Code like a kind of jurisprudential minefield: Crimes like ‘false statements’ (a felony, up to five years), ‘obstructing the mails’ (five years), or ‘false pretenses on the high seas’ (also five years). The trick and the skill lay in finding the more-obscure offenses that fit the character of the celebrity and carried the toughest sentences. The, result, however, was inevitable: ‘prison time.'”
“Those jury candidates who were accepted onto juries,” one of our regulars suggests, “likely are voters. So that’s how we got what we got…”
The 5: [Trying not to weep…]
Cheers,
Dave Gonigam
The 5 Min. Forecast
P.S. The print version of Jeffrey Tucker’s book A Beautiful Anarchy is just off the presses.
Laissez Faire Club members, as usual, can buy it at a handsome discount… and the e-book version is absolutely free with membership, along with 20 other titles and a new title every Friday.
Not a member yet? What are you waiting for?