Jim Rogers on Russia, US Equities and Commodities & Middleton on Banks

Our lead story today is surveillance and the US economy. At a hearing in Palo Alto, California, on Wednesday, Google’s Eric Schmidt made the bold claim that with the backlash against government surveillance mounting, “the simplest outcome is we’re going to end up breaking the internet.” Erin Ade reports.
Then, Erin is joined by Veritaseum CEO Reggie Middleton to discuss bank security and the technology of finance. After JPMorgan Chase recently announced it had a breach involving some tens of million accounts, it is clear that financial services are vulnerable. Moreover, a lot of bank profit comes from fees these days, rather than interest income. Is that fee franchise under pressure? Middleton weighs in.
After the break, Erin sits down with famed investor Jim Rogers to talk about Russia, agriculture and China. Rogers is bullish on agriculture and likes China. But he sees the Chinese purchase of the Waldorf-Astoria hotel as a top of the market kind of “trophy” acquisition. Jim also comments on whether a US equity bear market is on the horizon.
And in The Big Deal, Erin and Edward Harrison discuss the end of the bull market. Market breadth is waning as evidenced by the lower number of stocks hitting new highs and trading above their 200-day moving averages. Small cap stocks have already corrected over 10 percent and almost half of the Nasdaq is down 20 percent – a bear market already. Where is this headed? Consolidation is the bare minimum. But, depending on the real economy, it could be worse. Take a look!



Jim Rogers started trading the stock market with $600 in 1968.In 1973 he formed the Quantum Fund with the legendary investor George Soros before retiring, a multi millionaire at the age of 37. Rogers and Soros helped steer the fund to a miraculous 4,200% return over the 10 year span of the fund while the S&P 500 returned just 47%.