[7:30am ET] The story of the Fairfield Greenwich Group (see link) points to the truth of what I have been saying from the start of my blogging: the financial services industry has for years misrepresented their respective roles in serving the client.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Managers-luxe-life-on-the-apf-14190784.html
When almost thirty years ago the big banks started acquiring broker-dealers, they changed the name Registered Representative to Financial Advisor in order to disguise their real operations as financial product distributors. While their own RR’s were licensed by regulators as securities sales persons, the banks labeled them differently.
All the way down the line, there was unnecessary deception. A hedge fund was called a financial product, suitable only for wealthy and supposedly sophisticated or “accredited” investors. A Fund of Funds, like Fairfield Greenwich, was called a portfolio manager, and not in fact an asset gatherer, ie, a sales organization.
The public was labeled investors (ie, buyers of products) when in fact they were traders of prices.
Not telling the truth led to the mess we're in today. For that, I hold both the financial services industry and the regulators to blame.
Do I hope for change? I’m not holding my breath.
Having lived my life a certain way, I have attracted a level of personal criticism that others avoid by going along with the crowd. For thirty years, I was called names like eccentric, loose cannon, out-of-the-box thinker, and arrogant; but the point with me was always that I called a spade a spade. I never walked away from the truth.
In sticking to strong principles, I never lived the luxe life, as they say. I paid the price. That’s why today, for some people who recently have met me, they think of me as an enigma – somebody who will work tirelessly and without compensation for the benefit of people I don’t know, but quickly draw the line with people I do.
This should not be a mystery. I simply put principle ahead of personality.
Yes, I am hoping for a new Securities Act and new regulations for the financial services industry. At the end of the day, though, the public will not be well served by structural change brought about by legislators unless there is a radical transformation in the thinking and leadership of the leaders of the financial services industry.
In that regard, I am pleased to see Scotia Bank change their advertising slogan from “You’re richer than you think” to “You can make the most of what you have”. I’m left wondering, however, whether it was the bank CEO or the advertising company account manager who made that decision.
At the point in the process that we are no longer mostly skeptical on issues like this, I believe our society will have taken a very significant step forward.
As I write this blog, I am listening in my headset to Shania Twain’s “From this moment on”. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could actually take those steps forward from this moment on?
Comments
Cara 100 Ratings Changes
Good morning.
AMAT - Auriga USA Initiates Coverage with a Sell. Price Target = $8
BA - Price Target Lowered from $66 to $60 @ Jefferies & Co.
I respect your decisions
Life is hard, and we all must carry our own cross.
But if you leave this life knowing that you indiscriminately helped/cared for people in need, even those that are to shy to ask, you have accomplished something that can only be labeled as an "honest and loving" person.
These so called managers of the working peoples hard earned money/savings have a greedy self fulfilling need to take working peoples savings/money and sometimes dignity.
See, when judgment day finally does come for everyone, and it will, the rich will have to pay someone to come and cry at their funeral.
At the funeral of the "honest" person will freely gather the family and friends that deeply love, care, and respect you forever no matter what.
Good day trading to everyone.
Morning Setup
Durable Goods & Jobs @ 8:30; VIX@39.66 -6.13%; spot PM & crude is down;
Asia finished up, Europe is negative & futures predict a down open.
DRYS
AAAAYYYEEE PYYYRATES!
Ahoy Matey's! It's lookin' like me Dry Ship's sprung a leak! Abandon ship! Every man fer himself!!
When the truth hurts
Goodbye to — “You’re richer than you think.”
Let's see if this flies — “You can make the most of what you have.”
How about a little truth in advertising — "You weren't as rich as you thought, but we've made the most with what you had."
You can make the most of what you have
Perhaps Scotia bank could have said you can make the most of what you have left. Change is coming, change is here, but not nearly fast enough or large enough. What society truly needs is trust and transparency, in order to achieve this all of people who have brought society to its knees and done so illegaly should be sent to the good sherrif in Arizona that jails inmates in the tent city, he has a great success ratio, not many return.
The hardest trade that i have made this year was to buy HGD.TO, short gold miners, i purchased it for 9.47 on Tuesday in the face of $900 gold, the Barclays Bank situation and the proposed stimulous package. The charts were telling me that the miners were topping yet all this news was in my face but decided to go with my gut feeling, it closed yesterday at $10.56. I hurriedly put a very tight stop loss on it in that i would have lost $510.00 on 3,000 shares plus commission, so far so good and gold down again this morning with my charts telling me there is more downside. Oil is appearing to be bottoming, again, and i will be on the lookout for down spikes, it seems like before the last couple of up moves in USO,, UCO, HOU that there has been severe spikes down and then a sudden and swift reversal, heres to hoping to catch this. Johnny, was it you that mentioned yesterday that you were on a streak of winnig trades,if so touch me :).
TARP
So they tell me. We now get "More" visibility into what is being done with U.S. taxpayer debt http://tinyurl.com/bkvrqh
btw DRYS haven't changed much since last night, now -23.98% and Allstate ALL -15.99%
Re: DRYS
Shark - Last nights post DryShips Inc. (DRYS:US) momentarily Trading @9.56 -21.77% presently. The commodities transporter said it has violated some financial requirements of its loans and is seeking a waiver from its banks. (Partially retrieved from Bloomberg.com)
not much has changed
About a year ago I read a book entitled "Where are the Customers Yachts?" written in 1940 by a wall street trader who was on Wall Street from the 1920s onward.
Really, nothing has changed since that time. Thain's million dollar office, bonuses to wall streeters in 2008, million dollar retention "bonuses" paid to CDS traders at AIG after the scope of the debacle became clear, 100 million paid to Rubin to architect the failure of Citibank.
The title stems from an old joke:
An out-of-town guest was given a tour in New York. The guide pointed out the beautiful yachts in the harbor and said “Look, those are the bankers’ and brokers’ yachts.” The guest asked “Where are the customers’ yachts?”
hardest trade this year
tgifbipo - hats off to you for sure. I sold out of some of my gold, wrote some covered calls, but could not bring myself to sell the gold miners, much less SHORT the stuff. And I saw the same exact chart you did, and said the same things to myself. :)
Re: When the truth hurts
Nice addition of truth... laughed a little... thanks for the good start to hopefully a great day
GE
Purely from a TA viewpoint:
The volume on the rally off the lows has been somewhat restrained. There is some resistance around the low $14ish area, and then much more significant resistance in the $15.25-$15.60 range.
On a side note, does anyone out there still believe that the dividend on GE will not get cut at some point in the next 2-3 quarters ?
Re: GE
No,
1) I don't believe that the dividend won't get cut, 2) I heard the interview with Imelt on CNBC or another station a few days ago and I was shocked by his demeanor and his bumbling way of answering questions, a bunch of "you know, you know, I just think, etc". Imelt is way over his head. The company manipulated its numbers for years, and now in the past year investors feel it and killed the stock. I would not go near them, whether they have good businesses or not. Not with this type of management. I hope the shareholders aren't paying this guy millions of dollars in compensation.
Here is my new mantra: I don't want any company that manipulates its numbers, or is overly concerned with meeting projected numbers. They should be concentrating on growing their business, and if they are obsessed with numbers they won't do that.
Re: GE
"On a side note, does anyone out there still believe that the dividend on GE will not get cut at some point in the next 2-3 quarters ?"
I expect it will be eliminated or at least cut.
Re: GE
Is anybody putting up their own money to guarantee it? A crap shoot..
Re: GE
The measured move projects down to the mid $6 range, or up to the mid $25s on the upside.
The high on Dec. 8 being $18.94 and the low on Nov. 20 being $12.34 yields a $6.60 target; and conversely $25.54 on the way up.
The 50 DMA has presented resistance all the way down since last September.
Re: hardest trade this year
davefairtex, the charts started to turn on Monday after the early spike and thats when i first had the thought, but was pulling my hair out so i went for a walk. There would definately have been more of a profit, could of, should of, would of.
USO
Bid @ $27.95 Whack a mole.
roubini, banks, regulation
Obama's team gets a favourable nod from Roubini in Davos, but says a depression is still likely if there is a misstep. New regulatory system needed — Brit's "light touch" is no touch. Repeats estimate that US financial losses will be $3.6 trillion. Bloomberg
COF $20.30
This is a broken stock, having fallen through all areas of support.
Any rally in this stock back up to the $25-28 area should represent a good opportunity to enter on the short side, or buy puts. Longer term, there is quite possibly much more room to the downside.
Just my opinion, as always.
Re: GE
"Is anybody putting up their own money to guarantee it? A crap shoot.."
I fell on the BAC sword, will let someone else have the honor with GE. Maybe we can get vinod to buy 1 share??
Re: GE
Chickenpookie
I did my part of the Job brought GE at 11.95 sold at 12.65.
Will do again when it goes below 11.90. We all should buy stock to help the general to lead
also I am under and sinking in pool of oil and gas with UCO/USO/UNG
Re: COF $20.30
ToddInFL - I think so too, I had it short down to about 22 and then covered. Look at STI as well for a similar chart.
OPEC weighing further production cuts
http://tinyurl.com/agkfta
"Noting cuts in global economic growth projections, BP (UK:BP: news , chart , profile ) Chief Executive Tony Hayward, who was also on the panel, said demand could continue to decline "because economic growth in most of the world has stopped."
But when demand returns, it will snap back very fast and could cause suppliers to run into supply constraints "unless we can invest through the downturn," Hayward said.
Hayward estimated that an oil price of between $60 to $80 a barrel was needed to ensure adequate investment to meet growing oil demand by OPEC countries and also to meet costs of producing the marginal 3 million to 5 million barrels a day of world supply from sources such as ultra-deep wells and the oil sands of Canada.
That price range appears to support adequate investment without crimping consumer demand, he said."
Job Losses
Plenty of charges for layoffs will show up in next quarter earnings reports.
FAS- 11.19...
i think there's some life left in the financials...
Cara 100 Update
BA - price target lowered at Goldman to $35 from $36 following weak Q4 results. Maintained Sell rating.
CSCO - numbers cut at Barclays. Shares now seen reaching $17.50. Estimates also lowered. Equal-weight rating
QCOM - numbers lowered at Morgan Stanley through 2011. Equal-weight rating and new $40 price target
SNDK - Price Target Lowered from $16 to $12 @ Caris & Co.
XOM - downgraded at Goldman Sachs to Neutral from Buy. Price target reduced to $70 from $75 based on reduced defensive premium.
BC
Earnings call today @ 11:00am
gold miners: back in short term
back in HGU @ 11.52.
looking for a quick pop in the $11.75 area for my sell.
will reload should the large miners look to bounce back off their 200 MA's.
as noted a few days ago the SMA's for most of the gold miners are starting to turn very bullish w/ share prices and 50 MA's moving up and through the 200 SMA's, not surprising to see some bounce back after this kind of move, but longer term it looks good.
Gold
Back to 100% allocation
CARA100 charts
Finally managed to update the CARA100 Google charting to reflect the 2009 changes:
http://nexalogic.com/cara100.html
Gives an overall view of the CARA100 universe and the market. Prices are updated every 5 minutes or so.
TA Joke
A little humor poking fun at TA - http://tinyurl.com/abrcqe
The date of the post is maybe the best part of all...
out of mdrx. 3% loss
i suck
vinod- HOU.to/HNU.to
vinod- i inadvertently typed HOU.to in referring to NGas yesterday, it should have been HNU.to. not sure what the exchange rate is right now, but you can probably pick up HNU.to for around 2.50USD/share.
Whitney On Bad/Good Banks
Not too many have made better calls on the banking system than Meredith Whitney at Oppenheimer so her opinion on the bad/good bank scenario should have some merit...
Talks of creating a "bad bank" are once again gaining momentum, and accordingly, we feel compelled to repeat and review our thoughts on the subject. In brief, simply removing "toxic" assets from bank balance sheets will not directly cause banks to increase lending. Lending standards have tightened dramatically, and there is an unavoidable restructuring of risk taking place. Such causes money to come out of the system and lending to contract, with or without this "bad bank" structure. Lower asset bases, higher credit losses, and bloated expense structures will continue to pressure banks' earnings power and capital creation. We remain cautious on the group.
http://tinyurl.com/b3mpzl
Re: CARA100 charts
Thanks SiO2 for updating. I frequently use this one and the one for the Miners and Brazil.
FAS- to 40% @ 10.56
it's back to tuesday night levels..
Re: FAS- 11.19...
>i think there's some life left in the financials...
Did you bite 2nd?
Re: out of mdrx. 3% loss
If more traders would cut losses at 3%, they would be much more profitable.
Accepting small losses is a part of successful trading.
Straddles updates
BDK 35 puts +226%
EK 7.50 puts +160%
ALL 25 puts +300%
FO 5 puts +140%
So far...
These are some big companies.
Re: FAS- to 40% @ 10.56/out at 10.85
swissrobinson- twice...spit out the second bite fast...
HGD
Stopped out at $10.25, looking to reload.
Re: vinod- HOU.to/HNU.to
2nd
Price is 2.51. I did buy it at 2.48.
I am loading this gas and oil stock/ETF to hold them for about a month. Or until I make buck a share.
I think downside is limited (may be 10%)
Also keeping eye on GG/SLW. I just cancel open order to buy GG at 27.00 and SLW at 6.00. I think I will be able to buy them at lower price. So, far in 2009 doing very good. I plan to play believing we are at bottom and all the bad news about earning/job cut are now price in the stock. For me it is hard to figure out about financial so playing FAS etc for short term. My open order to buy FAS got filled at 10.50
UCO
Bought/Buying ~10
Re: FAS- to 40% @ 10.56/out at 10.85
OK,
It's good to hear some judgement errors here today, i.e. NYUGrad and 2nd. I was starting to think everyone here was invincible.
I see the necessity of having internet based brokerage for these lightning quick decisions, especially the fast moving ETF's
SNDK
2nd
it is strong lately my cost is at 9.40 got in on 10/23/08 in my IRA
plan to add in my trading account
Orders in for UCO 9.50, DRYS
Orders in for UCO 9.50, DRYS @ 8 Glad I got out fast for small profit in Drys last week. DRYS should be viewed as nothing but a daytrade vehicle.
TSO
even with bad earning this one is also strong.
I have it
Re: TA Joke
That's a beautiful chart from a trader's perspective!
Re: DRYS
As I posted here last week (maybe week before), DRYS faces a Billion dollar bill early next year on one of the offshore rigs it contracted for when it was a Bull market darling. If memory serves, another such rig is due in 2011 with another Billion dollar payment.
I found a link which details the dire straits (sic) Dryships faces:
http://tinyurl.com/dgcjk8
Re: Whitney On Bad/Good Banks
Everyone have their days in sun, for her sun set is coming
Re: DRYS
This article came out 2 weeks ago. Can it get any worse ? Is this the bottom ?
http://tinyurl.com/79pnfp
Merideth's sun has been at
Merideth's sun has been at High NOON for sometime...when she speaks of banks I tend to listen.
Just cancelled my open order for DRYS. Was hoping to catch an overdone downside open anyway. After reading the link, I came to the conclusion that I have no need to be trading Drys as it tends to blow up in your face. Fortunately for me I have avoided DRYS bombs. I will stick to FRO for my bulkshipper/tanker fix.
Re: TSO
Yes, a little too strong(?) - it was good to me, but I went out of it with a nice little profit (it may run even higher, I am certainly not against it). When the refiners posted nice earnings last November, like VLO too, well VLO was below 15, now they post not-as-great numbers and stock's at 25. TSO went as low as 6+, now its in mid-teens a little over two months later.
Re: TSO
that is why i am holding feb12.50 puts on them.
Re: FAS- 11.19.../off at 11.48
swissrobinson- did you bite?
POG
Looking nice :)
Re: POG
Yep, I should have sold DZZ last night. I thought it had more steam (closer to 40). Still in green on the trade. How did you know about gold going up if I may ask?
Re: POG
kitco.com
Re: FAS- 11.19.../off at 11.48
>swissrobinson- did you bite?
no 2nd, pulling funds from present broker.
Got a university paper due Monday. Need to lay off the market gazing a few days.
Will have to wait 30 days for adequate funds to open a US account.
Will practice some paper trades in the mean time.
Re: POG
This not what I meant. I meant why.
a provocative article as always from this author
http://www.niallferguson.com/site/FERG/Templates/A...
Re: Orders in for UCO 9.50, DRYS
Agree with you on DRYS. The BDI is up 7 days in a row from 872 to 1036. That might look great but it’s dismal compared to a year ago when demand was out of sight, supply (of ships) could hardly keep up, and daily revenue was Wow!
One cannot correlate BDI index to price anymore until the world economy turns around and demand grows. Considering the BDI index a year ago was 50 to 100 times what it is today, the recent average index increases doesn’t cause much excitement because demand is still in the toilet. So all dry shippers, not just DRYS, must be finding it difficult to meet their obligations (these are ships we’re talking about, not boats). They all carry staggering negative FCF numbers and high debt.
In today’s environment their stock price changes are very volatile making dry shipping companies a definite traders game. I love the industry, but it’s sure a mind-game investing in it.
Check out Fearnleys (www.fearnresearch.com) for better insight before doing any long term stuff. What fun – happy trading!
So what happens to Ford now? sitting at $1.95
Edit: Cash is a position (all cash)
COF
Capitulation play from a couple days ago. Buy limit 17.77.
Max pain Feb 25, Mar 30.
We'll see what happens but what everyone knows isn't worth knowing.
Do your own homework.
PetroCanada - Lybia
Announcing sales will be down due to OPEC cuts which will reduce volume coming out of Lybia, so an indicator that production cuts are holding
Re: DRYS
Todd,
it can always get worse.....however, 3.04 the 52 week low is pretty bad...........it can always re-test that area
UXG holders
It has finally come alive... what gives... a few months ago I thought it may close under .25
Jan 2: closed 0.92
Today: 1.68 11:37AM [intra day high 1.72]
Twenty-five people at the heart of the meltdown
Good piece on who's who of greedy, and/or stupid losers............
http://tinyurl.com/cm4lh
Re: POG
"How did you know about gold going up if I may ask?"
It stopped going down... Gold has been repeating the same action for months and months, where it bolts out of the gate only to screech to a stop and fall back to near previous levels (or lower). Rinse and repeat ad-nauseum, a rising trend with interspersed moonshots that soon recede, time after time. Simple, that's about it really...
How do I know? I've been keeping a large portion of gold in my port as insurance against something going insanely wrong in the touch-and-go world of global finance, getting a good feeling for the action by constantly hovering over this nestegg. Gold won't go broke, pay or cut dividends so I don't worry but still feel I should be trading the oscillations.
yvrapx
Its not allowing me in, would you happen to have the original link please, sounds interesting.
Re: Twenty-five people at the heart of the meltdown
My bad here is the correct link
http://tinyurl.com/cm4lhc
GE
I'm going to guess GE's dividend is probably not so safe, based on its dead cat-like bounce off 12. It's rebound couldn't get the Daily MACD to turn up. Contrast that with BNI, who fell at about the same time, with a similar amount of drama. Of course Buffet bought BNI at it's 62.5 low, so perhaps that's a factor too.
Re: gold miners: back in short term
as per my 9:42 comment: HGU @ 11.52, target: $11.75
i come back from a meeting to see HGU at $12.30, but my sell stop was hit @ $11.75.
so thats okay, $$ is $$.
looking to reload if gold falls back toward $860 range on any sudden downward plunges, or to get back onboard should gold move strongly above $910 or so.
i still suspect a plunge is in the works short term before the next leg up.
TZA and SKF
So far so good (since yesterday). Anyone has any ideas when it is a good point to exit? Reversing the gap? I'm not good at targets.
Re: POG
"This not what I meant. I meant why."
Today, Thursday is the last day before options expiry on the COMEX. It should be interesting to watch the next round of buy side/sell side WWF. The COMEX has different expiry dates than the rest of the futures markets, so the last Friday of each month is a critical day on the precious metals exchanges.
You would normally see significant sell side pressure come in at the beginning of the month, but there is so much gold being bought out by investment demand that a scarcity is bound to have an effect sooner or later. Perhaps this month, February, which is a short month will finally see a collapse of the derivatives trade held against bullion contracts, because physical delivery is becoming problematic.
The volume of trades should be up significantly into the spring as we are in a seasonally strong period. Other factors such as a sluggish oil price, low interest rate regime, crashes in major currencies, and a firm currency are contributing to firmness in the gold price.
Re: GE
vinod - I agree with your next entry at 11.90. On Tuesday I sold some Feb 11 puts. The return on margin is quite good.
http://optionpremiumcollector.blogspot.com/2009/01...
GE - Trading vs Investing - dividends
How could one consider investing in any company right now (especially for a dividend) when the entire banking system is collapsing?
Maybe I am starting to see the glass half EMPTY but my logical side says hold cash and day trade only - no long term investing in the stock market for now.
I also have had 2 people in my office this week burst out in tears. These are people who were earning over 400,000 year and now out of a job - can't pay the bills .
vb
Re: So what happens to Ford now? sitting at $1.95
NYGrad -
I'm almost all cash too. Let the market come to you, as Bill advises. F touched $1.01 and almost made the penny stock status a few months back. It will go lower from here on guaranteed stand off with UAW. Dropping the Jobs Bank concession this week is just a tremor. I'm waiting and watching for GM and Chrysler to capitulate before I pick up F at half its present price (around $2) and then expect a climb out when F picks up some stimulus money while the other two work out the asset sales in court.
F has enough cash to survive a few more months while GM may not make payroll in a few days.
CARA EFT list
Does anyone recall the name of symbol JFK in the US Large Cap Value EFT list? It shows as an invalid symbol. TIA
AMZN
Earning after closed.
looking at ZQNNJ. any opinion.
Howard Lutnick Forbes Interview @ Davos
On the banks.
Re: So what happens to Ford now? sitting at $1.95
EDIT: I replied to wrong post.
Thx for the insight. still in cash position. days like today when nothing seems like a bargain or other things are priced too high, cash feels great.
buying F at $2 and waking up at $1 would be painful.
Good Bank/Bad Bank
Good Bank/Bad Bank
This whole concept is so idiotic and insulting to the American people that I doubt anyone to be able to think of a better metaphor for the state our governmental nonsense.
No one other than a bureaucrat could come up with something like this. Well, maybe Saturday Night Live.
Naw!
It reminds me of little Swedish nonsense my grandmother used to say to me when I was little. (Any Swedes out there please forgive my spelling and feel free to correct me.
Mama, katen luk på mig.
Men wie har ingen kat.
Men är wie få en.
Mama, the cat is looking at me.
But we haven't any cat.
But when we get one.
Re: So what happens to Ford now? sitting at $1.95
Go short then. Seems more probable to head south before going north again.
Just going to stick with Cash until Senate meeting is done
i am expecting a lot of volatility as 100% of republicans voted no at the House vote yesterday for the Obama version of the Stimulus.
Brings me back to when we had the -700 pt day when i was on vacation and they were voting for the 1st bailout/tarp/money laundering. I was actually at Seaworld San Diego that day about to pet some dolphins.
Waiting patiently
The one thing that I've alwyays tried to learn from the community is the ability to watch, and wait.... and really resist the tendency to "do something" in the markets.
As of this morning I'm flat - and nothing looks really compelling in my small universe of stocks.
I'm long only (until I get better at going short)and this forces me to be really trust my indicators and instincts in this market.
I expect that something's going to give in the next week or so.
Anyone feel the same?
Re: Good Bank/Bad Bank
They should also separate good banker and bad banker and put bad banker in charge of bad bank
And everyone will be happy…….
market vs. miners
Well, Dr. Cosa I think you got your wish. I see the market dropping off, and the miners (and POG) continuing to go up. And the miners are doing better than the POG. Ready to dive back in?
(Sometimes I think gold must climb a wall of Dr. Cosa's worry)
Perhaps it's the upcoming COMEX default in February!
GOLD
Gold is above 900. More upside?
everything i bought and sold is down
I would have lost more if i held.
Do i deserve a beating for buying wrong or a cookie for cutting small losses early?
DIG
GM
MDRX
Cash position
Re: market vs. miners
mabey!!!
if POG holds above $900 for the close, alongside this USD strenght,
then i think it bodes well for the short/medium term.
Re: everything i bought and sold is down
The cookie. A big one.
Re: everything i bought and sold is down
well i cant say "EVERYTHING" was down.
Looked at my trades the past 24 hrs.
DIG +2.28%
GM -0.3%
MDRX -3%
I would have lost more if i held any of these stocks
Cash position
Re: market vs. miners
mebbee
Re: gold miners: back in short term [Dr Cosa]
"i still suspect a plunge is in the works short term before the next leg up."
Dr ... take a look at UXG today up almost 20%... IMHO for this stock to make that big of move in one day something serious in the gold market must be going on. Look at UXG history from Set 2007... not pretty! Maybe this is the start of the breakout everyone was looking for.
Gold
Once again our yellow heartbreaker is making a flirtation above 900. Do you hear the siren song? I do.
Long Yamana
Re: So what happens to Ford now? sitting at $1.95
F has an 8 billion line of credit.
That should tell you the banks believe in F.
Ford believes in Ford when they tell the crocked lawmakers and secretary treasurer of the US they don't need their TARP welfare. You should see F as a true American company that would just as well take your handshake as your promise to pay of your new Ford purchase on time.
I've been day trading F and GM and doing OK. Today I'll go long F if it stays near 1.95 at the close. What works for me, may not work for you.
S&P just retesting 850?
I'm as much a pessimist as most anyone, but suspect today is just a retest of 850. Isn't the chart forming what was recently mentioned as a bullish candlestick formation where today will be a smaller red bar within bigger white bar from day before? I know, uber technical terminology here :)
Mostly in cash myself, just a couple of long positions...
Re: So what happens to Ford now? sitting at $1.95
you wanna buy a ford?
Refinery strike looms as contract expiration nears
Keep your eyes on VLO, TSO, WNR, SUN et al
http://tinyurl.com/c3pg75
Re: everything i bought and sold is down
blink and it will be up, blink and it will be back down......
and ya do the hokey pokey and you turn it all around, that's what it's all about!
Re: So what happens to Ford now? sitting at $1.95
Not sure that Ford Credit would let me be late on payments and not charge me a late fee. just my belief.
Re: everything i bought and sold is down
blink and it will be up, blink and it will be back down......
and ya do the hokey pokey and you turn it all around, that's what it's all about!
Re: So what happens to Ford now? sitting at $1.95
bigwad -
Issue with F is that Washington may try to nationalize/bail out GM and muck up F's ability to reject the handout. It all gets down to Congress/Obama position on UAW in the form of funding contingencies. So far, looks like Democrats are willing to play hardball with this union and the flunky executives which does not bode well for GM's payroll checks tomorrow. Any breaking news could crash GM and F stock.
Also, I don't want to short F on the expectation of others misfortune. Just my view.
GM urging dealers to buy same allotment or more
That is crazy talk. GM should have asked the dealer union to go with them to capital hill for bailout when they did. as i see the dealer network 1 in the same as the manufacturer now.
How can a GM dealership order the same allotment as last yr? and how can gm pressure them to, as there are no buyers?! its like putting a gun to their head and asking them to pull the trigger themselves.
Autonation is fighting back.
http://tinyurl.com/buhdtx
My opinion is the auto industry must adopt a built to order model. and stop the 1st dealership a client goes to = a sale mentality. Much fewer dealerships with every make/model in ever color on the lot for test drive. few high markup inventory for the impulse buyer. but 90% should become built to oder.
All i know is i am not buying a new car until its range is 500 miles and 50+mpg or until its fully electric. until then i am holding onto my vw gti and might shop for a sports car on the used market from a private seller.
our little yellow heartbreaker
So the 5 min chart of GLD looks pretty good, at least to my eyes. Most of the grey (up-volume) markers are much higher than the nasty red (down-volume) markers. And really it has gone up quite nicely today, with a little rest mid-day, perhaps for lunch.
(btw mr shark that was funny)
Re: our little yellow heartbreaker
Nice volume on GLD today too,so far, I think gold may be on its way up.
FAS retested $10.53
Seems s/t range bound $10.63-83
UNG
After another fierce slam down on the table this morning, UNG has been looking bullish ever since. Keeps getting accumulated on the hard spikes down. FEB contract has rolled off which seemed to be weighing down the whole natgas forward curve.
EIA report this morning looked decent and we are close to 5-year avg storage:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/natural_gas/ngs/ngs...
Still long from 18.37 yesterday and I think we make a new daily high (above this morning 18.93) before day end. Still keeping a short leash but bullish for the moment - looking for NYMEX natural gas to make a short squeeze to test that $5 level before (possible) further decline.
Back in to SLW at 6.61
SLW has been working for me. Just got my butt kicked in DRYS though. I'm going to stick to the ones that have worked for me recently.
Something's brewing on
Something's brewing on PALM... do your DD
monkey (down!)
If this market would please just keep going down! But will it? Probably not.
Re: Something's brewing on
Its closing in on $8.42 upside resistance?
Re: GM urging dealers to buy same allotment or more
NYUGrad said:
"My opinion is the auto industry must adopt a built to order model ..."
Very true. There are too many car dealerships for the demand; many need to be closed. And that will occur as time goes forward, imo.
Same with shopping malls - too many of them. Very costly to maintain and inefficient. Internet sales for many big ticket items will continue to gain popularity as we move forward.
WMT looks very good at $ 47 (and change)
eom
added to my auy pos
added to my auy pos
Re: WMT looks very good at $ 47 (and change)
Yikes. Cannot agree with that assessment. WMT looks like it may close at a new low for this cycle. Tons of overhead supply above with the moving averages now rolling over. Going long here is a pure coin toss.
I would avoid the stock for now; at least until I see some sideways base action occur.
Re: monkey (down!)
the Monkey picked up a shovel and is mining for gold.
i think the weight of job losses and further falling sales in homes and cars has yet to peak. Car sales will halt, not just go down.
the responsible thing for Obama and our leaders to tell us is to SAVE YOUR MONEY. PAY OFF DEBT. SAY NO TO NEW DEBT. INVEST IN YOUR OWN EDUCATION.
but for once i think the public has started to do this on their own by force (not choice). I really cant see any appreciable pickup in housing or cars this yr. and i cannot imagine there still being all three Ford, Chrysler, GM still in existence by Xmas. maybe 1 consolidated brand.
Ford
http://tinyurl.com/c86vdu
Re: GM urging dealers to buy same allotment or more
NYUGrad -
GM cannot build buy-to-order cars without breaking contracts by cutting 90% of its union payroll.
State franchise laws protect family-owned dealership network from OEM controlling the sales. GM has, if I recall, over 5,000 dealerships in the U.S. compared to Toyota's around 2k.
Execs are clueless while Congress won't stabilize fuel prices to $5/gal to allow proper design strategies for product in the U.S.
End game is now.
Re: monkey (down!)
NYUGrad said:
"but for once i think the public has started to do this on their own by force (not choice) ..."
The markets almost always lead (and speak the clearest & loudest).
BC
Bought BC @ $2.98, Hail Mary!!!
Re: UNG
New daily high for UNG - just traded above $19. FWIW........UNG has been in an 11 day RSI Accumulation Zone.....for those who follow intraday RSI data, does todays move suggest a buy alert will be triggered today? TIA
I should add that I am still skeptical as to how the RSI system works with regard to leveraged ETFs, but curious nonetheless.
Re: GM urging dealers to buy same allotment or more
Dr. Strangelove said:
"Execs are clueless while Congress won't stabilize fuel prices to $5/gal to allow proper design strategies for product in the U.S."
How do you suggest that Congress stabilize fuel costs at $5/gallon ?
"Uncle Sam wants you to buy a car" thru tax deductions
http://tinyurl.com/d9wlpw
It's laughable. why not just deduct a set dollar amount from our paychecks every month for car payments, like social security. Every three yrs deliver us a new shiny car, take the old one, and deduct another $4000 from our income as the amount we would have lost on the trade in at a dealer. why leave choice in the equation? same goes for gas. just take it out of our paychecks.
I almost want to just start a blog on boycotting new production cars until they are non petrol sucking, create bumper stickers and sell them for non profit, and start a movement. every $ made on the bumper sticker can be donated to green tech.
We don't need new cars! i dont know the count but there are so many used cars in the market right now. and mechanics would start to make money again.
Sorry for my tone. it just upsets me.
Re: Something's brewing on
On intraday, it spiked earlier as if there was some news (none crossed the wire though). Instead of just dying as it would be the case on some hype or rumor, it returned to day's high after forming a cup over 2.5 hours. On daily, approaches that high from 01/16 that you mentioned... Hard to tell, could be preparation for the march toward 9, could be just fizzle. If it were a strong bull market, I would say 9 and above easily... in this swamp we are in now, who knows
trades for today
I finally got around to looking at the market now, and the first thing I noticed is that gold and silver shot up, while SLW lagged. When SLV was $12 in September 2008, SLW was at $10. Now SLV is at $12 again, but where is SLW? I was reluctant to buy more SLW recently as I have a lot of it in my portfolio already (5000 shares), but seeing the current discrepancy between SLV and SLW, I decided to purchase 500 shares of SLW at $6.59, placing a sell limit order at $7.59 for these shares.
Another motivation for buying more SLW now was to re-deploy the cash back into PMs from the two sell limit orders that were executed this morning. WGW hit the sell limit order at $1.88 for 2000 shares and UXG hit the sell limit order at $1.69 for 1000 shares. I will not be selling more WGW on the way up, as I am down to my core position (5000 shares with a cost basis of $1.5) that I want to hold long-term. However, I would love to see a pullback in WGW now, and so I just moved the two buy limit orders I have for WGW to $1.58 and $1.68.
Finally, a buy limit order for UCO was executed at $10 for 250 shares, and I have just placed a sell limit order for these shares at $11.
Re: Something's brewing on
Thanks Vad, needed the Pro look. Been in and out of PALM, left lots on the table but my interest is still piqued.
NYUG agreed!
Agree with you point for point. Until the market goes up for three weeks in a row, this is a bear market imo and I am betting against weak sisters like EK, C, COP, (out of TCK because there's not much downside left). CHN is a good short - any fund based on China being the saviour of the financial markets. So is CAT for now. This sure as the dickens is NOT advice. When I say something, the opposite ALWAYS happens.
Re: GM urging dealers to buy same allotment or more
ToddinFL said:
"How do you suggest that Congress stabilize fuel costs at $5/gallon?"
Gas tax while reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil (drill, alt energy, tax incentives for efficiencies). Higher gas would force U.S. consumer into more efficient transportation. See Europe/UK/<2.0L turbo diesels made by Ford. Global warming camp is attempting to use fear to achieve these goals. Not necessary. Obama already promising gas tax.
Furthermore, gov't could exploit home grown resources to help the economy.
USAF, a massive consumer of fuel, last year tested its aircraft for fuel generated from coal (CTL). U.S. is the 'Saudi Arabia of coal'. Congress won't allow USAF to sign large/long enough contract to kick off CTL industry. Barney Frank isn't in a rush save money, just spend it. CTL is a proven tech (See Sansol). USAF is also supportive of limiting CTL emissions which is not a proven tech. The generals say it's a national security issue. So why the hell not?
I love the smell of napalm in the morning.
Re: UNG
BillySundance, I concur. My indicators all turned up today on UNG.
Thanks for the observation and will be looking for more confirmation.
Re: Something's brewing on
To add some constructive element, my IF-THEN for it starts shaping up as follows:
If it's holding around here ($8) and returns to 8.30 on increasing volume, that's my C&H on intraday, going to try long on break with stop under the low of current pullback.
If breaks next resistance 8.40 from 01/16, holding at least part for 9 or so, correcting the plan depending on the way it trades.
Re: TZA and SKF
jack black, if you plan to play ultra-shorts over a medium time horizon, then it's better to short the spikes rather than buying the lows, because ultra-shorts inevitably fall when kept over many days. Ultra-longs are less susceptible to value erosion, but it may still be best to play them intra-day, as 2nd_ave does.
Gold and Silver
From Jessie's blog:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2DePAZe2gA/SYICHYybhII/...
Wouldn't be funny if it weren't true.
Calming down. looking at slw chart
Days like this i would jump in, prior to some learnings here. I so desperately want to buy SLW right now but the charts are not letting me. Not saying i am right. I hope i am wrong and everyone who bought today makes money on the trade.
but i am making decisions based on systems and not budging until i see the daily stochastics go from overbought to either:
A)Stochastics goes down to 50 and reverse up on overall strength in gold/pm
or
B)will be backing up the truck when stoch is below the oversold line turning up on daily.
chart http://tinyurl.com/d985je
Re: Something's brewing on
PALM volume so far is not there?
Re: Something's brewing on
vinod
Not on this run to take on 8.30
palm calls
I see a whole lot of volume on PALM calls. May 7.50s, March 12.50s (4515 calls with open interest of 371?) and Jan 2010 5's. I'm not experienced enough to know what that means but it seems like a surprising amount of activity, especially based on the comparable put volumes.
Re: Something's brewing on
Vad PALM looks like it's in a wedge formation...
Re: Something's brewing on
I prefer to view volume as relative , not absolute numbers only. So far, during this activity started on 01/08 volume rose on up days and decreased on red. Steadily diminished on retreat/consolidation from 01/20, started rising a little now. If increases on the further upward move (should it ever come), will be a nice confirmation of setup's validity. Big volume spike on 01/09 is news-caused
Re: Gold and Silver
I liked the JPEG, maybe what everyone knows will become a self-fulfilling prophecy... or not. I'm guessing we'll know when the FED announces emergency purchases of Treasuries.
Re: TZA and SKF
Thanks David,
My IRA account doesn't let me short. When I tried regular account the other day, no 3x ETF were available for shorting.
BTW, I sold TZA and SKF (held only overnight) and planning to sell DZZ on a bump for a minor gain. I missed a very good opportunity in AM for that.
I reloaded TNA and thinking about FAS if drops more toward 10.
Edit: shortly after writing this, the 10.00 limit order for FAS got filled. I hope this is a good thing.
UNG HNU
BillySundance and 2nd
Thanks for UNG and HNU. They made my day, took large position expecting to move out with small price move
But now looks rosy will hold for a while
placing a buy limit order for UXG
at $1.49 for 1000 shares I sold today at $1.69. I like the recent action in UXG, and I think we have seen its bottom already. So I am adding it to my trading list.
FAS- reopening at 9.99 (keeping it small, 20%)
what do you think, David?
Obama on
Wall St. bonuses: They should know better, he shouldn't have to explain this.
Send them bird flu and tell them to drop dead instead!
CTAB Bahamas cannot come soon enough...
Will have more dry powder by then and hoping to take home 2-3 things i can implement day 1 after i get back.
my learnings here have already paid for the trip costs in spades.
TBT
OMG,
How come I missed that trade. I was planning to jump at the end of the day, now it seems too late!
Edit: the hardest part of the game (except timing) is a propensity to hold on to losers while being stopped out from winners. I got in TBT back at 37+ but got stopped out at 40+. Never was able to reenter at good price. Same thing happened to CREE and many others.
LOL. Administration will demand bonus recovery
good luck catching them. this is starting to feel like a western movie. lawlessness.
“I’m going to be urging -- in fact not urging, demanding - - that the Treasury Department figures out some way to get the money back,” Dodd said. “This is unacceptable.”
http://tinyurl.com/asvwp6
Re: TBT
I know that many people have been jumping in and out of TBT. Since I don't know how to do that, I've just held since mid December (with additions in early Jan). It is true that I've had to experience paper losses (and now paper gains), but the reason that I bought it still exists now and perhaps the true meaning of bailout nation are only coming to light. In addition, fund managers at Pimco and Vanguard are starting to suggest moving out of Treasuries and into corporate. And of course there is the ever present tailwind of our nation's fearless leaders preference for inflation over deflation.
So it seems to me that my "job" is easier than yours. I only need to pick a level where I consider the long Treasury to be fairly valued (at which point I scale out). Those that are trading in and out need to guess the ups and downs on a daily/weekly basis... how can you do it?
Chickenpookie...
it looks like we are reading the same crapola. :)
fyi - i think you have the most comments posted here at 782. there has to be an award at the end of the yr for the leaderboard.
TBT/TLT
Lot's of talk (noise) on TV and in the Fed notes about the Fed buying treasuries.
Today's auction shows oversupply leading to higher yields, how might the Fed buying Treasuries affect yields?
AMZN
Beat estimates and revenues. Up 5 bucks afterhours.
It's going on the list.
Rob.
Re: TBT/TLT
All this talk about the FED buying treasuries may not be because they want to lower rates, it may be because there aren't enough other buyers.
So rates may not go much lower even with them buying treasuries since their move is designed to keep rates from spiking upwards after we have a couple of failed treasury auctions.
Rob.
Re: LOL. Administration will demand bonus recovery
My greatest concern is that Senator Christopher Dodd seems surprised by the fact that these financial firms have continued to pay themselves massive bonuses. How many failed experiments are needed before these elected officials realize that the HONOR SYSTEM is not a form of regulation. DUH!
Re: Chickenpookie...
"fyi - i think you have the most comments posted here at 782."
Yikes, I'm a bit hopeless! Sorry, I do try to contain myself if that's any consolation.
Re: Chickenpookie...
when that feature was rolled out i was surprised at my # too.
Good Bank
This bank and others like it should be the ones taking over for BAC and C and JPM.
That would be real change.
http://tinyurl.com/ahj6uz
Rob.
ATN.TO
Man....took a look at ATN.TO this morning and bid/ask was down to about $0.70. Apparently I should have jumped on it.
Jock, you were correct indeed that the chart is looking great. I can't necessarily say I have been seeing the same chart for all of the companies with new mines (not enough of them to make a generalization). But, there has IMO been a definite change in trading of junior miners since about mid-December. Liquidity seems to be greatly improved and there are signs of accumulation in lots of charts.
I am going to work on a calendar of when new junior producer mines are coming online when I have a chance. I have some notes that I need to throw together so a rough list shouldn't be too much work......
Gold
reminds me of those dot.com ads on the Superbowl from bygone dot.com bubble era...
From Kevin Depew's column : http://tinyurl.com/apvy4t
4. Does This Happen Closer to the Top or the Bottom?
That is the question I found myself asking after reading the news that Cash4Gold, the late-night cable TV advertiser that asks people to send in jewelry and other gold items for cash, has taken out a 30-second advertising slot for Sunday's Super Bowl.
"The Cash4Gold ad puts a direct-response advertiser on stage with a lineup of top-tier marketers and may not have been NBC's first choice to fill one of the game's 67 ad slots," USA Today reported. The problem, however, was that while NBC sold 85% of their ad spots by September, the network has struggled to sell the remaining spots.
USA Today says Cash4Gold transactions more than doubled last year versus 2007, to about 500,000.
Re: TBT
brown-cal,
I'm in exactly the same position as you. I'm in at an average cost of $39 and I'm not losing one iota of sleep thinking about this no-brainer.
By the way, is anyone interpreting today's general market action as simply a gap-fill (lots of sectors/markets gapped up yesterday)? Volume was lighter today than yesterday, also.
Watch List and Actions
in real money account, sold off PBH and IPGP..profit was less than 2%.
Purchased MSCC yesterday. basis is 8.32.
My play porfolio will probably add HNT and SVU as shorts at end of day tomorrow. Meant to add today but hey...I have a job. If move up, will not add
New Watch List:
Long: SRDX Short: STEM
I am doing very well holding SAY. basis is $1.07
Real money in SAY, MSCC
I will try to match up trades using www.tickerspy.com
http://tinyurl.com/dc58pp
Re: TBT
brown-cal - why not sell out of the money puts at a strike price that you find attractive?
Re: FAS- reopening at 9.99 (keeping it small, 20%)
2nd_ave, since you like to take quick profits, your decision to buy FAS at 9.99 will pay off greatly if financials rise tomorrow. I don't have a good feeling about day-to-day market moves, so I can't really advise about short-term trades.
I, personally, prefer to play "Buffet", but on a shorter time scale. :) That is, I prefer to buy "value" and sell it with at least a 20% gain. Based on what I read recently, I am beginning to lean towards the assumption that the current fiscal stimulus and the current TARP will not be enough to revive the economy (John Mauldin argued it repeatedly in his recent letters). Therefore, in a few months the market participants might start getting disappointed, and they may very well drive the market to new lows. John Hussman had a nice letter on December 15 titled "Recognition, Fear and Revulsion." There he said that we had the “fear/panic” stage in October, but we did not reach the “revulsion” state yet, when investors see that nothing is helping the economy to heal and the stock prices to rise, and so they give up for the long term. Jeremy Grantham said in his latest quarterly review that this crisis will definitely take much longer than people think. Here is a quote from that letter:
"This is a good time to look at the Japanese crisis of 1989 to present since, along with the Great Depression, it is probably one of the two most relevant examples for today’s problems. The Japanese had an even bigger problem in write-downs of “wealth” than we have now. They had to write down perceived wealth by an amount equal to a stunning three times GDP! Even in 1929, we had to write off amounts equal to only three quarters of a year’s GDP, as the stock markets then were less
developed and housing was decidedly pre-McMansion. This time in the U.S., however, we must write down perceived wealth or capital by almost precisely one and a half times GDP, worse than the Depression but happily much less than Japan."
In my head, it all adds up to the fact that the “Revulsion” stage is inevitable, and hence financials will be much lower at some point in 2009 than they are now. Therefore, I don't want to open long positions in financials now, and will instead stick to shorting FAZ, which must go down to 0 regardless of what happens to the financials. FAZ/FAS can have some powerful multi-day moves, and a single day's move does not feel like a “value” to me yet. When I see FAZ in the 60's, then I'll start shorting it again (that would probably correspond to FAS in low 8's).
If today's market drop was just to shake out the weak hands at the beginning of a month-long rally, I'll be very happy, as I currently have 85% invested on the long side in highly volatile stocks. Since I have only a limited cash reserve left to buy stuff, I don't want to do short-term speculative trades and would rather wait to buy "value" that I am comfortable holding long term.
Incidentally, SLW now feels like a good "value" to me, since by raising some cash recently they reduced their risk of not being able to meet their debt payments, which is something that worried me a lot and prevented me from really backing up the truck. Today I started buying SLW again, as I posted earlier.
UBS. No cash bonuses. mostly deferred stock
must be a painful pill to swallow if you are used to $200k+ end of yr bonuses, and racked up the debt to go with it.
two sources
#1 http://tinyurl.com/ctp2wx
#2 http://tinyurl.com/bqzvc2
COF
long @ 17.77, yesterday's 3PM price.
Capitulation play. Do ur own homework.
Quick question for those in the know
How can Jim C still be on tv? and why hasnt anyone inspected and quantified the damage he has done to individual wealth?
In sales there is a saying, "if you keep saying you are an expert eventually people see you as one" and he is on tv every day, interviewed on other networks, sells millions of books. Is just putting a disclaimer before each commercial break enough legally to make him free of any liability?
They even sent him on a college tour last yr to speak to the future of America! I actually ran for the exits and sold MDRX when i saw on their website they were promoting the Jim C clip that aired recently, on their homepage!
Just venting.
Re: Gold
I find that an article quoting Peter Munk about how hedging is dumb and that the gold price is going to triple is probably timed right before a vicious sell off. But "gold is going to crash" will wear out eventually.
A bear raid on gold is probably imminent, since they seem to occur with surprising regularity in the first couple of weeks of each month prior to options expiry.
One sign that Cash4Gold is probably not working very well is that the Toronto pawn broker advertising cash for gold during hockey games has now switched to being a lender of money. The amount of gold presumed to be held in jewellery is probably a hedonic valuation. I am assuming that any market statistic to do with jewellery sales, India, or any sort of dire prediction based on the drop in jewellery sales will not have any effect on investor demand for bullion.
FBI Ignores Mortgage Fraud
And we thought blindness was only a job requirement at the SEC and CFTC...
The FBI was aware for years of "pervasive and growing" fraud in the mortgage industry that eventually contributed to America's financial meltdown, but did not take definitive action to stop it.
"It is clear that we had good intelligence on the mortgage-fraud schemes, the corrupt attorneys, the corrupt appraisers, the insider schemes," said a recently retired, high FBI official. Another retired top FBI official confirmed that such intelligence went back to 2002.
Public statements by one high FBI executive shows that the bureau was well aware of the potentially devastating impact of rampant mortgage fraud at least five years ago. The executive ominously foretold the crisis in testimony before Congress.
The SEC, said the official, did not show an interest in working with the FBI on the problem, either. And it didn't begin responding to pervasive financial corruption until after the economy collapsed.
"The regulators are the ones embedded in the banks," the first retired FBI official said. "They would be able to see it if they were looking. They were the first line of defense in detecting it."
SEC officials declined to comment.
http://tinyurl.com/bmlwmo
Re: FAS- reopening at 9.99 (keeping it small, 20%)
David
Base on your study all or any 3X ETF like FAZ (short) will go to zero someday, is it correct?
Sharing the Wealth?
http://tinyurl.com/boz3cw
peter munk?
i think articles written about gold company CEO's talking up the price of gold are at best exercises in irony.
its a joke that barrick or mr. munk himself make any predicitons considering their dismal record of forecasting the gold price.
if anything it makes me think a tank in the gold price is around the corner.
glad i got out of some of my position today, likley beable to buy more at a much lower price. i think these kinds of articles are pointless other than to act as contrarian indicators.
POG bounced right off $910 today, and is sitting in the low $900's,
ive been wrong at this point before but my feeling is for a plunge tommorow,
it doesnt have the feel of a real breakout in gold yet. hopefully that happens soon.
Black Thursday In France
And just what are the French so upset about...
Thierry Dedieu, a leader of one of country's major labour groups, the Confédération Française Démocratique du Travail, put the protesters' view this way: "We want to show that people are dissatisfied at the moment. We don't want to have to pay for a crisis that we're not responsible for."
The CGT and Force Ouvrière unions estimated that 2.5 million people had demonstrated throughout France, with at least 300,000 marching in the capital and many more in Marseille, Lyon and 200 other cities and towns. The Interior Ministry estimated that about 1.1 million people had marched in France.
As the Paris march was ending, more than 100 youths clashed with police near the Opera Garnier, hurling various objects. The police responded with tear gas and some trash cans were set afire.
France's normally irrepressible president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has had little to say about the protest.
http://tinyurl.com/b3fq67
http://tinyurl.com/bx7693
Good call on AMZN
SiO2 Good call on that straddle. Thanks
Re: COF
I agree. Covered my short @17.24 from 3 months ago @ 31.18.
Re: FAS- reopening at 9.99 (keeping it small, 20%)
Vinod -- yes, all ultra short ETFs will go to 0, with 3X going down faster than 2X. Among the 3X, those with higher volatility will go to 0 the fastest (that's FAZ, since financials have occasional amazing days that lead to unrecoverable losses in FAZ). When the 3X ultrashort comes out for China, I'll start shorting it instead of FAZ, since FXI has more volatility than XLF and also Chinese market will obviously go up long-term, while all banks can get nationalized.
Re: Good call on AMZN
Thanks bg. There were several terrific straddle plays this week. The number of wild oscillations is amazing (e.g, look at ZION on Jan 26, http://straddles.nexalogic.com).
BDK P35 $0.92 -> $4.50 389.13%
EK P7.50 $0.75 -> $2.60 246.67%
FO P35 $0.80 -> $2.40 200.00%
OXPS P12.50 $0.75 -> $1.80 140.00%
RCL P10 $1.10 -> $2.85 159.09%
AF P12.50 $0.80 -> $3.00 275.00%
LRCX P20 $0.30 -> $0.95 216.67%
ALL P25 $0.78 -> $2.90 271.79%
WBSN P12.50 $0.50 -> $1.20 140.00%
AMZN C47.50 $4.50 -> ?? ??
AMZN C60.00 $0.60 -> ?? ??
Cuomo looks to recover of $4B in Early Merrill Bonuses
There is some hope. But I would be shocked if anyone actually goes to jail. otherwise who would be left to elect to fix the economy?
http://tinyurl.com/ac653x
Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) -- New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo may demand the return of $4 billion in bonuses paid by Merrill Lynch & Co. just before it was acquired by Bank of America Corp., a person familiar with the matter said.
Cuomo also wants to know what Bank of America Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Lewis, 61, knew about the accelerated bonuses and about Merrill’s surprise $15 billion net loss in the fourth quarter, the person said. Lewis fired Merrill’s CEO John Thain this month after the losses required more federal aid.
Clawback may be the word of the year
Cuomo is opening a can of worms. Obama has also been in the news tonight about Wall Street greed. Looks like Wall Street let someone in the Whitehouse that isn't part of the Boyz club. 10 years of analyst pumping worhless bubble of the year stocks and pocketing billions. Clawback may be the word of the year.
[complaints received; profanity deleted]
Ex-mining executive sentenced to jail
Former Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. executive Barry Landen has been sentenced to 45 days in jail for illegal insider trading in the company's shares – marking the first jail sentence for insider trading in Ontario in nine years.
Ontario Court Judge Rebecca Shamai also ordered Mr. Landen to pay a fine of $200,000 within two years
Got High Blog Comment Numbers?
To those afflicted by CBD ( Compulsive Blog Disorder ) it is rumored that the CTAB conference will be conducting a clinic for those in need of treatment. Featured will be ways to reduce or eliminate one-liner comments and senseless wordage that wastes the time of others and diminish the credibility of the writer. I really hope those who need help will seek it. In the meantime, please blog less and save eyeballs!
Wow, what happened to gold?
Wow, what happened to gold?
TBT trade may lose steam.
The dollars gain against the worlds currency may make treasuries very appealing to foreigners who want to hedge their falling currency. When will gold decouple from all fiat currency? Tomorrow or is it going to keep breaking hearts.
Bob
Re: Got High Blog Comment Numbers?
Terry,
not a rumor actually. Aside from standard issue 2x4 I use on trading lectures in order to reinforce the knowledge-soaking process, I was instructed to have on hand a 2x4 with rusty nails, specifically for the purpose you indicated.
Re: Got High Blog Comment Numbers?
Vad,
Does the stick have a name. The stop loss-enator!
Re: Got High Blog Comment Numbers?
There are a few labels replacing each other depending on a topic: StopLoss-enator, BookYourProfits-enforcer, Don'tBuyOnTips-remindator, IgnoreTalkingHeadsAndWatchPriceInstead-iser and StopComplainingJustTrade-abler. There is also a big EmotionEraser and ImpulseDetacher, and some smaller but useful tools like EndlessAnalysis-DeParalyzer and TechnicalIndicators-Feweriser.
For those with unique problems we intend to bring a 2x4 with blank label - kind of "write your problem on this sticker, put it on this 2x4, hit yourself over the head". Self-serve, no charge, 2x4 on us.
Where Gold is going,
Since the goldbugs expectations are awful predictors, I agree with dr. Cosa and f6. I feel gold continues to rise for now
until Central banks & US govt. intervenes to drive it down. (By the way, Gold up $18.60 per Oz. as of this post @ $923.)
AUY
I am tired of getting my positions taken at the end of the day by investors who suppress the price breakouts intra-day only to keep the pos overnight and profit, essentially trading against/taking advantage of daytraders. Now I 'm beating the woodpeckers at their own game. How? Last night I KEPT my Yamana and I'm planning to ADD to it. Take that you accumulators!
attaboy sharkie
Im a shorter as you may have gathered but YRI does look good on the long side this morning. What next, Swing trading?
Good luck!
Somebody posted the video of a young trader (I think) who was some po'd about wall st bankers. Mad as hell. Now I can't find it but would like to. Maybe it was cut because of profanity.
Re: Got High Blog Comment Numbers?
Thanks guys, I won't be posting my trades here anymore.
Re: Got High Blog Comment Numbers?
Hope you reconsider CP.
FAZ FAS XLF
November 6 FAS 55.50 New (debute) ETF opning price todat it closed at 9.17
november 6 FAZ 60.22 New (debute) ETF opning price today it closed at 50.40
November 6 XLF 14.81 opening price that day today XLF closed at 9.24
David has explained about this price movement in many posts. This is in down market. But what will happen in up market?
Re: Got High Blog Comment Numbers?
where and how to look at comment numbers?