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Just my humble opinion but I think the NASDAQ was dragged down by the bottom falling out of the biotech sector. And it didn't actually fall because of specific news (though there was a little of it). The downward pressure on biotechs seem to go back to the letter issued by that weasel Waxman to Gilead about the prices being charged for their hep C drug, Sovaldi. And adding to the problems was the continuing talk (wrong IMO) of the sector being a bubble.

I can't say what will happen tomorrow morning, but I will say that I believe the biotech sector is oversold and will soon restart its upward march.

BTW, I have been buying on the drops, but did not expect to see such a drop as the market experienced last week.

INVESTING IN TRUST DEEDS

(Note: do not do this in a mortgage state where there are redemption rights)

Today’s lesson: discount/buyback of a note secured by deed of trust. If done properly and there is equity in the property (in California, you do not want to do this with an owner occupied dwelling), it is safe to be in 2nd position on a property as long as you have the resources to cure the 1st if the owner gets in trouble

Scenario: 150,000 rental home...1st is 90,000, someone has a 7% interest 20,000 2nd (maybe an owner carry back)and needs money.
1 - seller of note does not need all the money and does not really want to take a big discount
2 - offer note seller $10,000 now and the ability for him to buy it back for the same amount in the future within a negotiated time period
3 - for the option to buy back to remain in force, buyer of the note must always get his payments on time.....if the owner of the property does not make payments, note seller must make them to you and solve the problem or he stands to lose a future $10,000 (which would typically be paid off at the time of a refinance of the property or a sale)
4 - so seller of note gets 10K of his money now and will get the rest in the future without having to take a big discount to solve an immediate cash need...what he is losing to get the cash is the interest he would earn on the note
5 - buyer of note spent 10K to get a 20K debt instrument.....so he is actually earning 14% on his money until the note seller buys it back

I have a question. The global economy has the potential for an upheaval, I'd think. That's usually good for the price of gold and silver.

I have a few offers for introductory prices to buy US gold and silver coins. Is this a good time to purchase a few of those coins? I'd assume the regular prices at these online coin sellers would be somewhat of a ripoff, but these prices are about 25% lower, so they say.