Dubyah

G.W. just moved up a notch in my book.

Ca. Homes

Kah-li-for-nia foreclosures topped a 20-year high this past quarter with 63,061. That's a cash value of more than $26-billion in loans (figuring a median price for a single-family detached home in California, as of March 2008, was $413,980).yikes!

The United States...

...of Socialism.

No Run on Banks

The big news today....there's no need for a run on your bank. And, in case you were thinking of making a run on your bank, you now (for the next 30-days at least) can't short (without already owning) FNM and FRE; as well as other big names like, LEH, MS, MER, GS.
A classic "cover-your-going-broke-ass" move. What can you expect though? We have to protect those CEO's and institutional holders of LEH, MS, et al., before their holdings are worthless, right? How would you feel if you owned 2.7-million shares as head of MS? Imagine how Barclay's feels while they're stuck holding 48-million shares in Morgan Stanley.
They're scared shitless.
So, instead of allowing the entities responsible for this mess to pay the consequences (and accept the risks they took on) we'll just help them defer accountability, give them carte blanche to the Fed, and hand the costs over to tax payers. Thank goodness we have Henry Paulson as Treasury Secretary; who would know better what to do in an economic situation like this than an ex-head of Goldman Sachs?
phheewww

Things that make you go "Oh Sh@!"

NOT WORK APPROPRIATE!:


- We the people are being assured, our deposits are safe. In other words, don't go making a run on your bank. hmmmm

- Wholesale inflation jumped 1.8% from May to June.

- Don't worry, that stimulus check will kick-start our economy.

- Is Bush the new Costanza? Should we suspect the opposite of what he thinks will happen?

- The Euro is the new Dollar.

- Brazil expanding beyond major cities.

- And I thought watching 30 stocks during the day was tough.

- The next big commodity?

- VW spending $1-billion for plant in Tenn. That's only $627-million after the Euro/Dollar exchange rate, what a deal!

3G costs

AAPL sold 1-million 3G iphones this past weekend. At $199 per phone that works out to be $199-million in 3-days. We've learned that the previous iphone was costing Apple $246-$281 (depending on the model) to manufacture. Well, not only has Apple improved the technology behind the fancy phones, they also likely cut their production costs in half. The current 3G model could be coming in at around $100-$160 (depending on the model) to manufacture, according to speculation from a tear-down specialist company (they speculate b/c they have yet to actually tear down the new 3G).
So, that brings the profit margin, after manufacturing costs, to around $99,500,000.00 in 3-days. Not a bad weekend's work.

fascinating

It amazes me when discoveries are made in modern times that seem like they should have already been discovered. Check out this story of a never before seen tribe of the Amazon (be sure to check out the photo slide-show in the side bar). It's a scene right out of Planet of the Apes! Good thing Charlton Heston is no longer with us, he might be mounting a search and destroy mission with his NRA buddies to go and eradicate these pygmies.

Water re-visited

I made this post just over a year ago pertaining to the potential (likely?) global water crisis.
Here's an article addressing this issue and how GE has been investing in the infrastructure to deal with this problem.
Here's another article discussing the topic of "Peak Water." Interesting stuff.
Currently PHO (PowerShares Water Resource ETF) is approaching resistance (around $22.50) at it's 52-week high and up 22% since this time last year.

Mars!

About what I suspected Mars would look like.

Tables Turning

Chinese firms bargain hunting in the U.S.

gta iv

Over 6 million units in the first week of release for over $500 million in sales. I have to say, it was worth the $60.

talent

How to drive, under a full moon.

Soft-Core Disney

If you have any sort of opinion towards the Miley Cyrus photo spread, then get a load of this. Creepy, Creepy, Creepy!!

On the Brink

The head of the Tokyo stock exchange says Japan "Is walking toward the edge of a cliff. Unless it changes direction, the world's second-biggest economy faces financial ruin."

The Future

There is no accountability!

TS data unavailable

While my Tradestation data is unavailable for whatever reason, I suppose I'll just blog a little.
Mortgage lender Countrywide (CFC) announced a first quarter loss of $893 million. Accepting that they haven't seen the last of delinquencies, foreclosures and dropping home values, Countrywide will increase their residential loan loss provision to $1.5 billion.
The Case-Shiller home price index saw the fastest one month price decline in the history of the index. Home prices dropped 2.6% in 20 key cities between January and February this year. A 12.7% total decrease over the past 12-months.
Foreclosures are up 112% for the year.
Deutsche Bank (DB) reported its first quarterly loss in five years. A first quarter net loss of $131 million Euros, compared to last year's first quarter gain of $2.12-billion.
What can I say? Microsoft sucks.

AAPL Q2

Apple's 2nd Quarter earnings were a record-breaker. Apple "...generated $4 billion in cash flow from operations in the first half of fiscal 2008, yielding an ending cash balance of $19.4 billion... Looking ahead to the third quarter of fiscal 2008, we expect revenue of about $7.2 billion and earnings per diluted share of about $1.00." They also decided to cut out the middleman and buy a boutique chip maker P.A. Semi inc.. Currently shares are down about 3% after-hours, go figure.

U.S.Dollar

"Foreign private investors sold a net $37.6 billion of U.S. stocks and bonds in the six months ended Jan. 31, the most recent Treasury Department data show. The last time sales exceeded purchases over a six-month period was April 1996."

merger go-ahead

XM & Sirius were (Finally!) given the go-ahead for a merger. Though the FCC still has to approve the deal.

dollar

Will we see the day where a U.S. Dollar will be laying on the street and no one bothers to pick it up?
Perhaps it's temporary within the market turmoil lately, but Amsterdam isn't accepting an exchange of U.S. Dollar for Euros due to the rapid deterioration of value.