The Best-Performing Stock Manager in America This Year
By Dr. Steve Sjuggerud
July 15, 2008

Greetings today from Minneapolis, Minnesota – home of one of DailyWealth's favorite investment advisors, Steve Leuthold...

Mr. Leuthold never ceases to amaze us. He's done it for 30 years now...

Today, one of his mutual funds is the best-performing U.S. stock fund over the last 12 months. It ranked No. 1 on Morningstar's list of 19,500 mutual funds – an exceptional performance.

And nearly 30 years ago, he wrote the exceptionally prophetic book The Myths of Inflation. Back in 1980, contrary to every other prognosticator out there, Leuthold was optimistic. He predicted inflation would fall to 3%. He predicted oil prices would calm down. And he predicted stocks and bonds would perform well. It was just brilliant stuff.

The Three Best Gold Investments Right Now Simply sign up to receive, DailyWealth, and we'll immediately e-mail you this latest research report... Absolutely FREE:

It was so brilliant that, after reading it, DailyWealth's own Tom Dyson felt compelled to fly into Minneapolis just to meet with Leuthold's contrarian investment research firm, the Leuthold Group. On my trip to the "North Country" this year, I chose not to bother the Leuthold guys. Instead, I'm in the Minneapolis airport, headed home after a quick vacation with my wife and kids. (My father grew up in Northern Wisconsin, and my parents now have a lake house there. My wife and I brought the kids up for a few days.)

A few years ago, Steve Leuthold made a huge bet on commodities. He bought tons of commodities... literally! Leuthold was the only fund manager I'm aware of who was actually stockpiling tons of base metals in warehouses.

Leuthold not only got the call right on commodities, he got the trade right, too. He really maximized his profit...

He was bold enough to take a big position when nobody else wanted to. And then he had the stomach to hold on for a long time, when other value investors would have gotten scared out of the trade.

Leuthold also brilliantly took a big short position in financial stocks in his Grizzly Short Fund (GRZZX). That bold position pushed the Grizzly Fund to the top spot in stock funds over the last 12 months.

So his Grizzly Fund is at the top of the list now... But Leuthold makes bets in both directions. So maybe another of his funds will be No. 1 down the road. (For more on Steve Leuthold and his funds, click here.)

He told Barron's, "Our valuation models are indicating that there is not a huge amount of downside risk" in stocks right now. But as far as I know, he doesn't have a big call at the moment. According to Barron's, Leuthold is currently "neutral" on the markets. It's not for a lack of looking... Leuthold just spent weeks traversing China sizing up its investment prospects.

The DailyWealth list of legitimate "market experts" is surprisingly short. One of the few names on that list is Steve Leuthold.

A Shocking Set of Inflation Statistics... Uh Oh... "It's Coming in 2008"

He's done his homework and made prescient calls for 30 years... from calling the end of inflation in 1980, to stuffing warehouses with commodities a few years ago, to betting against financials lately.

When you see comments from Steve Leuthold or the Leuthold Group, stop and listen. You'll probably hear some great investment advice...

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.

Catastrophe insurance is getting more expensive this week.

We're big fans of gold and silver at DailyWealth. We don't think the world is coming to an end... We simply see precious metals as excellent catastrophe insurance – assets that soar when stocks and bonds are sinking.

Last week's destruction in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac counts as a catastrophe... and silver is making good on its "claims." After trading around $17 per ounce since March, the precious metal has broken out to $19. The chart of gold looks much the same.

Here's the reason for the strength in gold and silver: Precious metals rise when investors smell serious risks to the financial system. They rise when the government spends too much money and extends too much credit, which stokes inflation. Silver's breakout is a response to the huge liabilities our government is assuming with Fannie and Freddie.