Michael Lombardi wrote - It’s Sir John Templeton, a famous investment pioneer, who said, “Bull markets are born on pessimism, grow on skepticism, mature on optimism and die on euphoria.” (Source: Sir John Templeton.org, last accessed January 10, 2013.)

George Leong wrote - The major bank stocks all closed off 2012 near their respective 52-week highs. An upside break appears to be in the works, as the banking industry continues to assume less risky businesses, while shoring up their balance sheets and producing stronger units.

Happy New Year to our Profit Confidential readers!

George Leong wrote - In 2012, small-cap stocks were the second-best performing group, following the technology sector. The Russell 2000 was the top performer in December and has been since the end of the first quarter. How the small-caps fare this year will, again, depend on the global economy.

In the not so distant past arguing that precious metals prices were setup to fall generally elicited a response which was not real pleasant. In fact, during gold’s infamous bull market rally on several occasions I called for pullbacks which regardless of the accuracy of my call generated hate mail that seemingly never ended......