Gold is not dead, it is just resting. I believe that the monetary expansion arguments to buy gold prompted by QE3 are still valid. But because QE3 is entirely focused on the housing market through the Fed purchase of $40 billion a month of mortgage backed securities, the effect on the broader money supply is delayed. However, I expect it to start kicking in during December, bringing a dramatic increase in the monetary base as calculated by the Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

Worsening strikes at the mines in South Africa also help this position. So does stepped up capital flows into emerging markets. Individual investors have to carry out tax selling which took the yellow metal down 10% from its September high. Foreign central banks don't.

The (GLD) January, 2013 $157-$162 Call Spread allows for a 3.5% decline in (GLD) from the current spot price and still expire at its maximum point of profitability. The $162 level is also a key support level on the charts, as it is just above the 200-day moving average, giving you further protection. This call spread is really the best way to jump on a moving train. If you can't do the spread for whatever reason, just buy longer dated calls outright, or the underlying ETF (GLD). This position should do well if the modest "RISK ON" rally continues until the end of the year, which I expect it will.

For the longer-term fundamental case for owning the barbarous relic, please refer to my earlier piece on "If You Had Any Doubts About Gold" by clicking here, and "The Ultra Bull Case for Gold" by clicking here.

The best execution can be had by placing your bid for the entire spread in the middle market and waiting for the market to come to you. This alert is for the monthly options. Don't buy the weeklies by accident. The difference between the bid and the offer on these spread trades can be enormous. Don't buy the legs individually or you will end up losing much of your profit up front. If you don't get filled, then just wait for the next Trade Alert. There will be many fish in the sea.

The same applies if you don't understand this trade. Better to watch this strategy unfold on paper in the model portfolio before you try it with real money.

WANTED: Social worker, tax free salary of $60,000 with free accommodation and transportation, no experience necessary, must be flexible and self-sufficient.

With the unemployment rate stuck at 9.1%, and running as high as 45% for recent college grads, I was amazed that they were even advertising for such a job. Usually such plum positions get farmed out to a close relative of the hiring officials involved. Intrigued, I read on.

To apply you first had to fly to Auckland, then catch a flight to Tahiti. After that you must endure another long flight to the remote Gambler Island, then charter a boat for a 36-hour voyage. Once there, you had to row ashore to a hidden cove, as there was no dock, or even a beach.

It turns out that the job of a lifetime is on remote Pitcairn Island, some 2,700 miles ENE of New Zealand, home to the modern descedents of the mutineers of the HMS Bounty. History buffs will recall that in 1790 Fletcher Christian led a rebellion against the tyrannical Captain William Bligh, casting him adrift in a lifeboat.

He then kidnapped several Tahitian women and disappeared off the face of the earth. When he stumbled across Pitcairn, which was absent from contemporary charts, he burned the ship to avoid detection. An off-course British ship didn't find the island until some 40 years later, only to find that Christian had been killed for his involvement in a love triangle, decades earlier.

The job is not without its challenges. There is one doctor, and electric power is switched on only 10 hours a day. Supply ships visit only every three months. The local language is a blend of 18th century English and Tahitian called Pitkern, for which there is no dictionary. Previous workers have a history of going native. Oh, and 10% of the island's 54 residents are registered sex offenders, due to its long history of incest.

The next time someone you know complains about being unable to find a job, just tell them they are not looking hard enough, and to brush up on their Pitkern.

Jules

Abu Dhabi

The question arises of where to protect your cash during the coming slaughter. Do you want to hide it in overnight cash accounts, T-bills, and CD's and earn zero? Or would you prefer to park it in very high-yield, moderate risk securities where the healthy cash flows make it worth standing the heat in the kitchen.

I have written extensively in the past about master limited partnerships, high yield equities, junk bonds, and emerging market debt as great places to pick up high-return long-term investments. Today I will complete the picture with an overview of the REIT market, which offers similar income and capital production attributes. At least if we get selloff in the market you get paid handsomely to wait out a recovery.

REITs (real estate investment trusts) can be a great alternative to purchasing rental or commercial property. Maybe you don't think real estate is a good investment right now, so you might want to consider a REIT. If you are a value investor, I'm sure you have seen real estate markets come down between 30-50% or more.

A real estate investment trust company buys and sells properties; some will focus on commercial products such as shopping malls or office buildings while others specialize in apartment complexes and residential developments. REITs are publically traded, highly liquid, and are traded much like stocks.

If you are a conservative investor, you also have the option to invest in a REIT mutual fund, which carries around 20-50 different REITs. REIT mutual funds help to mitigate your risk more by spreading it across multiple companies. There are also ETFs for REITs which function in a similar fashion to mutual funds.

You can also purchase REITs that specialize in foreign countries. REITS have been a great investment over the last 30 years: since 1979 the average U.S. REIT has had a return of about 12%, which beats the S&P 500 over that time by a large margin. In order to gain a better understanding of REITs, I will delve into a number of REITs that I believe have a great future.

Value investors project healthcare-related REITs to increase significantly within the coming decade. These benefit greatly as the baby boomer generation require increased medical help and move into alternative senior homes. These companies seek to grow and invest in more properties as 80 million baby boomers continue to retire.

This macro trend is helping to push healthcare real estate northward and will continue to do so for decades to come. With the Affordable Care Act (Obama Care) now unlikely to be repealed, 35-45 million newly insured patients will be added to the marketplace, utilizing health services across the nation.

HCP, Inc. (HCP) is the largest REIT focusing in healthcare real estate investment. The company owns over 936 properties, which include retired living, hospital facilities, and medical office buildings. Its broad diversification and its strong relationships with reliable service providers allow the company to sustain growth rates of around 8% annually.

Their presence in over 46 states means that they are integrated into almost all markets across the United States. The company has a market capitalization of around $19 billion, with a current profit margin of 34.7%, and offers a healthy 4.4% dividend yield. HCP shows strong financials compared to other healthcare REITs such as Health Care REIT, Inc. (HCN) and Healthcare Realty Trust Incorporated (HR), while being on par with better performing REITS such as Ventas Inc. (VTR).

Within a few weeks HCP's yield has gone from 4.5% to 4.9%; analysts suggest that this higher yield in combination with the company's strong financials makes the company a good investment. Many knowledgeable REIT investors consider HCP as a "hold forever REIT" due to its sustainability in the healthcare sector. Due to the new Obama Care Act, there will be an increased demand for healthcare and medical facilities in the United States. Buy HCP on a dip if possible, if not, there are other alternative REIT's that are worth considering.

Another healthcare related REIT which is making headway in the market is the Senior Housing Properties Trust (SNH). With a market capitalization of only $3.82 billion, (SNH) can barely be considered a competitor of HCP. One strong reason to pay attention to this smaller, less-known REIT is its strong growth rate. They have averaged a revenue growth of 25% since 2009, compared to the 18% growth rate of HCP. The trailing P/E stands at 25.82 while the company has a sustainable yield of 7%. SNH also pays out a dividend of $1.52 per share, which secures a steady return on investment.

Like (HCP), the (SNH) benefits from the macro influence of the baby boomer generation coming into retirement. Analysts predict that (SNH) will continue to grow at a faster rate compared to the mammoth, HCP because of its decision to invest primarily in medical office properties. Even though the REIT is named Senior Housing Properties, a substantial amount of their properties are medical office buildings. Office buildings are considered to be higher revenue assets because of the ease in managing rental cost inflation. Furthermore, it is much easier to sell off office buildings compared to nursing homes because of their structural durability.

(SNH)'s continued acquisition of new assets also helps drive its long term growth. The company holds over 370 properties in 38 different states and has annual revenue of $543 million. The company plans to expand to over 400 properties by next year within 43 different states-revenue will continue to grow in an upward trend.

Medical Properties Trust, Inc. (MPW) is another solid healthcare REIT, which has done very well considering the challenging real estate market. The company is based in Birmingham, Alabama, but owns healthcare facilities mainly in California, Texas, and the Northeast. The company's current yield is a robust 7.3% and distribution payments are projected to rise within the next year or two.

Their year-to-year revenue growth has had a significant increase of 55%. Their operating cash flow has surged 40% and their sales are projected to grow by 20%. (MPW) has been steadily gaining momentum in the market with the ever-increasing demand for healthcare. They currently own 68 net-leased healthcare facilities in the United States and are the only healthcare REIT focusing exclusively on hospitals. The dividend yield on this baby is 6.9%.

Since 2007, their number of properties owned has increased almost threefold from 25 to 68. The CEO, Edward Aldag, Jr., told my analyst that, "There are a lot of hospitals…the market is huge out there. There's about a half a trillion dollars of available hospital properties out there...the pipeline is huge and we think that 2013 will be another big growth year for us." Being so deeply imbedded in the hospital real estate market, Medical Property Trust is projected to grow significantly as millions of insured Americans utilize health care services.

Mortgage real estate investment trusts, also known as mREITS, are another type of REIT worth investigating. The residential mortgage sector has been one of the top-performing sectors in the REIT industry in 2012. This is primarily due to the book value growth and dividend yields. Since the start of the housing crisis, the destruction of value in both the housing and financial assets have created a lot of opportunities in this sector. This has created more predictable prepayments which have helped to stabilize the mREIT market.

American Capital Agency Corp. (AGNC) is a mortgage REIT, which profits by borrowing money at low, short-term interest rates, then purchasing higher-yielding mortgages or mortgage-back securities. There was recently a sell off in the mREIT sector as American Agency Capital (AGNC), MFA financial, Inc. (MFA), and Annaly Capital Management (NLY) showed sharp losses. Investors, worried that lower long-term interest rates would lead to decreased earnings, dumped a significant portion of their mREIT holdings within the past month.

This current sell-off is a great short-term buying opportunity. Like most mREITs, (AGNC) has an ultra high yield of 16.2%. Its market cap hovers at $9.8 billion and its trailing P/E is 11.6%. Although the REIT has experienced a troubling selloff in the past month, their beta of .17 is on par with its competitors and demonstrates the financial stability of the company. (AGNC) is a very safe, government-backed company; Fannie Mae backs 77% of is assets while Freddie Mac supports 23%. Some of the company's holdings experienced some of the largest increases in market value of the Residential Mortgage Backed Securities (RMBS) this year.

Annaly Capital (NLY) is another mortgage REIT worth considering. The company is considered one of the largest cap US Agency mortgage REITs and holds a significant stake in the market. With its recent acquisition of CreXus Investment (CXS), the company plans to move away from agency residential mortgage backed securities and focus more on non-agency commercial mortgage loans and other commercial real estate debt.

The company is also planning on buying back convertible notes worth $441 million in order to restructure its capital. This will help to lower the company's cost of capital by issuing $1.5 billion worth of preferred shares and convertible notes. The company has a beta of 0.1 and a P/E ratio of 9.69. Its market cap of $13.72 billion makes it one of the larger mREITS in the sector. As the US real estate market improves and the company continues to diversity its investments, Anally Capital will prove to be a good company for future investments. (NLY) offers and awesome 13.9% dividend yield.

Don't expect the greatest pairs trade of the year to work much longer. Blackberries are not going to retake the number one position as a handheld device anytime soon. The aberration masks what has been a major comeback by technology stocks that has been going on for the past ten days.

Since I put out my trade alert to load the boat with Apple call spreads on November 15 (click here). Apple has posted the biggest five day increase in market capitalization in the history of the stock market, some $93 billion.

The turnaround is evident across a broad swath of tech firms, unless, of course, they make PC's. In fact, "the death of the PC" is becoming a major investment theme that is increasingly gaining credence, as consumers flock to higher end Apple products, or shift their computing entirely to tablets or smart phones. Look no further than Hewlett Packard (HPQ), which just broke down to a new multi year low on a massive accounting fraud, and Intel, which is definitely not feeling any Christmas cheer. The early numbers show that the tablet is the surprise, runaway bestseller in the early Christmas season.

The stock price really strapped on the turbocharger yesterday when Citibank (C) released a very bullish report on the long term outlook for the Cupertino, CA based company. It pegged a conservative target of $675/share, which is 11% below the consensus target of 56 analysts. It sees revenues going ballistic, from $156.5 billion in 2012 to $243.6 billion by 2015, a jump of 56%. Most importantly, cash & equivalents rocket from $29.1 billion to $139.9 billion.

This assumes 51% of revenues coming from iPhones, 21% from iPads, 15% from PC's, and 9% from iPods. The implication is that this money machine will continue to run full speed for years to come.

My friends at Business Insider put out a fascinating table yesterday showing that just ten companies account for a stunning 88% of S&P 500 earnings. Apple is in the lead, followed by Bank of America (BAC), AIG (AIG), Goldman Sachs (GS) and Wells Fargo (WFC). The stunner is that apple accounts for an unbelievable 20% of all (SPX) profits! The data highlight how undervalued this stellar company is. Use every 20% pullback as a gift to further load the boat.

Mueller says the Internet is not just a conduit for commerce, but also for crime and terrorism, and the bad guys are checking your doorknobs every day. Information is power, and fiber optic cable is a weapon. Terrorists, in particular, love the new Google Earth application.

Recently, Mueller busted an American-Egyptian phishing ring, arresting 50, which looted 5,000 US accounts. We all must take ownership of the cyber security problem through the vigilant use of antivirus software, firewalls, sophisticated passwords, and constant patches. Tracing a 75 cent accounting discrepancy at UC Berkeley led to the smashing of a German industrial espionage ring that was tapping into university computers and getting cutting edge research for free.

Teenaged kids, like the Canadian who launched the biggest "denial of service" attack against E-Trader and E-Bay, are to be feared. Be careful what you post on your Facebook page because it may kill a job prospect years down the road. The FBI is now embedding agents in police departments in Eastern Europe and China to take the fight global.

Hacker attempts are getting more sophisticated by the day, sneaking in under hijacked trusted names like Yahoo, AOL, and Bank of America. I have screened some of these for friends myself, and they are getting incredible clever. Anyone can fall victim, including Mueller himself, who recently had his personal bank account looted. His wife has since banned him from accessing their bank account online.

When I got home, I immediately backed up all my files, reset my passwords, and bought my fourth antivirus program. I also installed bars on my windows and set booby traps on the front lawn for good measure.