The One Positive Thing About This Bear Market
By Dr. Steve Sjuggerud
July 8, 2008

I am excited...

You see, most U.S. stocks are as cheap as they've been in my entire 12-year career writing investment newsletters. Many stocks are at multi-decade lows.

The opportunities aren't just limited to U.S. stocks...

I've written recent issues of DailyWealth about the once-in-a-generation opportunities in things as diverse as Japanese stocks and municipal bonds. Undoubtedly, we will have some extraordinary buying opportunities very soon.

Unfortunately, though stocks are cheap right now, they could get cheaper. Here's why...

A few years ago here in DailyWealth, I shared what I called the "Generation Switch" idea... You see, investment themes move in cycles – or "generations" – that last about 17 years or so.

One generation gets enamored with an investment idea, and it soars beyond reason. Then it busts, and the next generation gives up on it forever. You can see it in the table from a few years ago: Triple-digit profits one generation, losses the next:

This one simple table would have made you rich...

If you'd have sold your stocks and bought commodities at the end of 1999, you'd have made bigger profits than anyone you know this decade.

Commodities are up by triple digits since the end of 1999, and stocks are down in that time. The scary thought is... if the pattern holds, we could see stocks underperform until as late as 2016.

In my newsletter True Wealth, we wait for opportunity... We buy things that are cheap, hated, and in the start of an uptrend.

I don't think we'll have to wait until 2016... but we haven't seen the uptrends yet. It's an understatement to say it's an ugly market out there. We're simply doing our best to avoid catching falling knives.

It's best to wait for the falling knife to hit the ground and come to a stop before carefully picking it up. By waiting for the uptrend, we might miss the first 20%-25% of a move... but it's completely the right way to go now. We can't know where the bottom is.

Right now, I'm seeing more cheap and hated opportunities than I ever have in my career. That's what I'm excited about. And that's the positive thing about bear markets... They create value.

Many investments around the world are as cheap as I've seen them. Investors coming into the market in the next few years will get in at good values. And chances are, they'll make money.

I can't go back and save people who didn't read my writings back in 2000, when stocks were expensive. (In my January 2000 newsletter cover story, I said, "We are at the peak of most likely the greatest financial mania that will ever be seen in our lifetimes and quite possibly the greatest ever witnessed.")

But I can tell you today, in 2008, stocks are as cheap as they've been in a long time. While they can (and likely will) get cheaper, I am excited. For the first time in many years, we're seeing once-in-a-generation values.

Get Rich On The Generation Switch Why the Recession Is Good for Us

We'll take advantage of them soon, once the time is right.

Stick with us. We'll let you know when we believe we're there...

Good investing,

Editor's note: Steve Sjuggerud is a regular contributor to DailyWealth, a free investment newsletter focused on the world's best contrarian opportunities. We write with a simple belief in mind: You don't have to take big risks to make big money with your investments.

Sign up today to read more investment ideas from Steve Sjuggerud.

Bleak headlines for America's third largest supplier of foreign oil: Production at Mexico's giant Cantarell field fell 34% from May 2007 to May 2008.

This is a huge problem for Mexico. Cantarell is one of the three largest oil fields in the world. Mexico's state-owned Pemex gets 37% of its production from it. The Mexican government gets 40% of its revenue from Pemex.

Cantarell's massive decline also pulls together a number of themes we cover regularly in DailyWealth: 1) Never trust a government to operate so much as a hot dog stand. 2) There are no easy barrels left. 3) The world needs to spend billions and billions on new oil exploration, which will drive a bull market in oil services. And lastly, 4) Invest in Canadian oil production.

Canada is one of the ABCs of resource investment. It is home to the largest safe oil deposit... a deposit that is increasing production. The world's largest gas-guzzler is Canada's next-door neighbor. And most importantly, caribou aren't interested in suicide bombing.

All of these attributes will produce a slew of stock charts like today's. Suncor Energy is the poster child of the Canadian oil boom. As you can see, what's bad for Cantarell is good for Canadian oil investments.