Ralph F

The holiday shopping season got off to a surprisingly solid start, with Black Friday sales up 3% (or 11%) from a year ago.

Why SCC? That's the double short consumer services ETF. Spending on consumer services is more resiliant than spending on discretionary consumer products, so you'd probably be better off going for SZK.

Here's a list I found of short sector ETFs that may be helpful:
seekingalpha.com/artic...


On Nov 30 12:51 PM D. McHattie wrote:

> Predition: overall retail sales for the Christmas season will be
> down significantly. The 3% black friday surge is front-loading,
> people shopping now to spend the least.
>
> I can't wait for retailer stocks to rally on this news so that I
> can buy SCC at an even lower price and gain that much more when retailers
> go bankrupt in Jan, Feb, Mar due to overall dismal Christmas sales.

General Discussion on AMZN

That doesn't seem to make any sense -- why would they do that?


On Apr 09 11:26 AM Pablo12 wrote:

> I'm hearing AMZN will be eliminating its free shipping option on
> all items this morning.
>
> Is that the reason its dropping ?
>
> Thank

"As we look at the NetBook category, that’s a nascent category. There’s as best as we can tell not a lot of them getting sold." Steve Jobs during Apple's (AAPL) recent conference call.

Remember that Apple makes a lot more money per MacBook than Acer or Asus make on a netbook.

Perini Corporation Q3 2008 Earnings Call Transcript

Movements in stock prices are about changes relative to expectations. If they lower guidance, the stock will fall.


On Nov 25 03:37 PM User 218405 wrote:

> This is positive for the company. PCR is making money as compared
> with the Banks and GM or Ford. Yet the price has dropped almost as
> much as the corporations that are losing money. WHY?????
>
> Dan Kowkabany

General Discussion on MSFT

Useful link. Thanks.


On Nov 26 03:06 AM Y.I. wrote:

> Google is in the process of huge layoffs. Is MSFT next?
>
> www.webguild.org/2008/...
>

General Discussion on AAPL

Not sure I agree with that. HP and Dell have some pretty nice designs for netbooks.


On Nov 25 04:21 AM Y.I. wrote:

> Great quote from Steve Jobs' on netbooks:
>
> "We don’t know how to make a $500 computer that’s not a piece of
> junk, and our DNA will not let us ship that."
>
> From the AAPL conf call transcript: seekingalpha.com/artic...

Google (GOOG) search sites' U.S. share grew by 0.2% from a year ago in October to 63.1%, comScore says. Yahoo (YHOO) gained 0.3% to 20.5%. Here are Nielsen's ratings. More here.

I find the same thing. Though I do occasionally use Yahoo search when I'm on Yahoo's web site.

Citigroup (C) CFO Gary Crittenden says the bank has no need to sell assets at this point, and calls the fast-growing emerging markets franchise 'the core of the company.' (previously)

They why did C enter the US mortgage market so aggressively?

Zale (ZLC): FQ1 EPS of -$1.43 misses by $0.48. Revenue of $364M (-3.4%) vs. $382M. (PR)

Doesn't sound good for NILE.

Citigroup (C) CEO Pandit could step down due to a loss of confidence. Pandit says the bank's capital position is strong (sound familiar?), and it will not sell Smith Barney. CNBC

I worked for Pandit, and he's a highly talented guy. This wasn't his fault: he was brought into Citi relatively recently, way after this mess was caused.

Reluctant to broaden its $700B financial bailout, the Treasury turns down a request by General Motors (GM) for up to $10B to help finance a merger with Chrysler. Instead, the Treasury says it will try to speed up the Energy Department's $25B loan program for fuel-efficient vehicles.

So this administration FINALLY says "no" to something!
About time.

Remarkably, "Big Money" managers surveyed this week by Barron's magazine are unrelentingly optimistic - with 50% saying they're bullish or very bullish about the stock market's prospects through the middle of next year.

Why "remarkably"... Sentiment is really weak, so it's likely the market will go up from here.

U.S. demand for alcoholic beverages remains strong, and beer is poised to gain over expensive spirits. This is good news for Molson Coors (TAP), says Barron's, as cost-cutting and sustained growth could help the stock shine this year.

Not sure I agree. Drinking alcohol is a good way to forget that you just lost your job.

U.K. PM Gordon Brown believes there is support for a global financial rescue fund. "The Saudis will, I think, contribute like other countries, so that we can have a bigger fund worldwide to avoid the contagion - to avoid this spreading to different parts of the world."

Reading between the lines of what he said, it sounds to me like the UK is still in big trouble. Not the time to own the UK Pound.