I've found that when you combine fundamental stock scans and a neural net classification model, you get good results.  WIT was one of those stocks that passed both my fundamental and neural net scans. I promptly entered WIT on May 15th @ $10.70 and currently sit on a small gain of 12.6%. Every month I update the model using a fundamental AAII scan to see if new stocks are added to the portfolio or if they drop off. ...

Not only will the Federal Reserve have to raise interest rates by year end, most likely they'll have to continue to raise them. To what levels I'm not sure but they'll try to control this massive inflation bubble (stock bubble, real estate bubble, now inflation bubble? hmmm) by raising rates to possibly over double digits. Signs that the global economy is emerging from the deepest slump since World War II are fueling bets the Federal Reserve will raise its target interest rate by year-end, futures show. [by Justin Carrigan] ...

I think we are going to see the beginning of hyperinflation based on how the bond market and our government have been behaving lately. Granted, there are many variables out there and I'm just taking an "educated guess" here (please no jokes), but if history serves as a guide, we should see a big upswing in inflation. What does this mean for stocks? Well we could see a return to the market highs and even some new records. However, the most important thing to watch is how the US Dollar and Gold/Silver react. If stocks and gold go up in lockstep then we'll see the creation of another major stock bubble, which will end badly. ...

I got stopped out in GOLD this past week, right after Benny started jawboning about the economy and how wonderful it is. I'm not sad, I got in at $65.45 and stopped out at $70.78 for a gross profit of about 8%. If this mining stock makes another all-time high next week, then the trend remains intact and I'll go long again.

Greetings from Baker City, Oregon! I'm currently traveling between Idaho and Oregon for work but manage to keep an eye on my stock positions in the evenings, provided the hotel I'm staying at has Internet! My positions in WIT and GOLD are steaming higher, especially GOLD. In the evenings I just check my trend models and update my stops as required. So far things have worked out pretty nicely and I'm looking for another set of wins in WIT and GOLD when my models tell me to SELL. ...

Sorry guys but I’ve been busy with work and doing some light stock trading. My first live trade in YZC, using my Neuro Classification system was a success. I nabbed over 7% in that trade over April. I’m currently long WIT using the same system and sitting on a small gain. On the downside, I’m finally capitulating on my C trade. I’m selling my losing positions after sitting on a -80% loss. This will probably mark the bottom in equities. LOL. ...

Paul Wilmott, financial mathematical modeler and all around quant genius, was recently interviewed about how banks relied to much on their (wrong) models to value their assets and how it led to their undoing. Of particular interest is how he says they overlooked the human side of the model equation. "You can model electromagnetic waves: a mathematical model that shows molecules of air moving around a plane, making it fly," he says. "But in a financial model, you need more than numbers. The models in finance are not very good. In this field, it matters if you're not psychologically synchronised; people don't behave rationally. You can't rely on people following equations. It's half maths and half human." [by Elena Moya] ...

I'm recently came across some Python Code snippets for Machine Learning maintained by Stephen Marsland. I'm not a programmer or coder but I know several of my readers are. Follow the link and enjoy.

All the stuff you post about yourself and what you like in Facebook or some other social network is a marketer’s wet dream. Data mining companies are now capitalizing on the free information you post about yourself, mining it, and then selling statistically significant data relationships to marketers via the social network’s APIs. A company called Colligent mines social networks for data that it sells to record labels to help them decide which demographics or individual fans might like a particular artist, and those are just the very first nuggets marketers pull out of profiles. ...

Google announced "a new search feature that makes it easy to find and compare public data" a few days ago. This is pretty awesome and very valuable to traders who want macro-economic information in an easy to navigate way. Check out the Google video below: