An awful August, but it was great for Howard Ruff. And he expects to continue that way.
Over the year to date through August, Ruff’s Ruff Times is now up 8.8% by Hulbert Financial Digest count, as compared to negative 3.9% for the dividend-reinvested Wilshire 5000 Total Stock Market Index. Over the past 12 months, the letter is up 44.1%, against just 5.1% for the total return Wilshire 5000.
Ruff is a veteran of the 1970s gold wars, and in essence he argues that era’s stagflation (or worse) is returning.
His record is long and checkered. His relentless self-promotion tends to irritate financial journalists, who are sensitive souls, but he did make perhaps the handsomest recantation I’ve ever seen, when Mark Hulbert and I found he had exaggerated his gold record — which was actually quite impressive enough. ( See Oct. 30, 2006, column.)
In recent years, Ruff has done particularly well. He was one of 2009’s top 10 performers by Hulbert Financial Digest count, despite being skeptical of the overall stock market all year. ( See Dec. 28, 2009, column.)
Ruff only publishes once a month, and much of his letter is musings on current affairs and extracts from services he respects. Thus, his most recent issue includes a summary of Shadowstats.com’s John William’s blood-curdling prediction of an imminent hyperinflationary depression. It also contains Ruff’s reflections on the Constitution, the need to defend Arizona in its struggle with the Obama administration over its anti-illegal immigration legislation (“we have to stand up for the states”), and a joke about a husband and wife stopped by a traffic cop.
At times, Ruff has seemed almost bored by the stock market. His attitude seems to be that he’s identified the major trend and provided what he calls his “shopping list of recommended investments” (which the HFD — as always, when no allocation advice is provided — treats as a fully invested model portfolio). And that should be enough, damnit.
Ruff’s latest issue does contain this unelaborated summary of what he calls his “forecasts”:
An awful August, but it was great for Howard Ruff. And he expects to continue that way.
Over the year to date through August, Ruff’s Ruff Times is now up 8.8% by Hulbert Financial Digest count, as compared to negative 3.9% for the dividend-reinvested Wilshire 5000 Total Stock Market Index. Over the past 12 months, the letter is up 44.1%, against just 5.1% for the total return Wilshire 5000.
Ruff is a veteran of the 1970s gold wars, and in essence he argues that era’s stagflation (or worse) is returning.
His record is long and checkered. His relentless self-promotion tends to irritate financial journalists, who are sensitive souls, but he did make perhaps the handsomest recantation I’ve ever seen, when Mark Hulbert and I found he had exaggerated his gold record — which was actually quite impressive enough. ( See Oct. 30, 2006, column.)
In recent years, Ruff has done particularly well. He was one of 2009’s top 10 performers by Hulbert Financial Digest count, despite being skeptical of the overall stock market all year. ( See Dec. 28, 2009, column.)
Ruff only publishes once a month, and much of his letter is musings on current affairs and extracts from services he respects. Thus, his most recent issue includes a summary of Shadowstats.com’s John William’s blood-curdling prediction of an imminent hyperinflationary depression. It also contains Ruff’s reflections on the Constitution, the need to defend Arizona in its struggle with the Obama administration over its anti-illegal immigration legislation (“we have to stand up for the states”), and a joke about a husband and wife stopped by a traffic cop.
At times, Ruff has seemed almost bored by the stock market. His attitude seems to be that he’s identified the major trend and provided what he calls his “shopping list of recommended investments” (which the HFD — as always, when no allocation advice is provided — treats as a fully invested model portfolio). And that should be enough, damnit.
Ruff’s latest issue does contain this unelaborated summary of what he calls his “forecasts”:
- Socialism marches on as the Obama Administration unfolds.
- In 2010, the Republicans take back the House and the Senate, as taxpayers revolt. But a new president is elected in 2012. [This is a change. Ruff used to say that, after losing Congress, Obama would be re-elected.]
- Gold and silver gradually rise to new highs; gold over $2,300 and silver over $100.
- The following industry groups do well: a) gold mining; b) silver mining; c) uranium mining.
- Taxes rise sharply.
- Interest rates rise as bond markets sag.
The latest Ruff Times has, what seems to me, an unusual emphasis on silver, pointing out in two places that “history has no example of the government seizing silver.”
Among stocks that Ruff recommends as “pure silver plays”:
Hecla Mining Co. (HL 5.94, +0.09, +1.54%)
Pan American Silver Corp. (PAAS 26.38, +0.45, +1.74%)
Silver Wheaton Corp. (SLW 24.16, +0.27, +1.13%)
Silver Standard Resources Inc. (SSRI 18.54, +0.14, +0.76%)
Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp. (CDE 17.91, +0.23, +1.30%)
Silvercorp Metals Inc. (CA:SVM 7.97, 0.00, 0.00%)
Endeavour Silver Corp. (EXK 3.98, +0.09, +2.31%)The latest Ruff Times has, what seems to me, an unusual emphasis on silver, pointing out in two places that “history has no example of the government seizing silver.”
Among stocks that Ruff recommends as “pure silver plays”:
Hecla Mining Co. (HL 5.94, +0.09, +1.54%)
Pan American Silver Corp. (PAAS 26.38, +0.45, +1.74%)
Silver Wheaton Corp. (SLW 24.16, +0.27, +1.13%)
Silver Standard Resources Inc. (SSRI 18.54, +0.14, +0.76%)
Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp. (CDE 17.91, +0.23, +1.30%)
Silvercorp Metals Inc. (CA:SVM 7.97, 0.00, 0.00%)
Endeavour Silver Corp. (EXK 3.98, +0.09, +2.31%)