Articles

Turn up any stone and you will find reason to be down on the prospects for economic and market recovery. Housing is in major crisis; the subprime mess is only now beginning to unfold; inflation – even core inflation – is not a pretty sight; oil will be at $100+ in ten days or so; and the dollar is worthless even in Canada. And these are just some of the indicators of real trouble as we roll into the holiday season. But all these are minor compared to what is just now coming down the road – and I am not talking about international crises and the real probability of terrorist attacks.

Estate tax is really not a worry when you have billions, and almost as many lawyers to help shelter your money. Buffett loves to go before Congress to urge them to reinstate without any changes the death taxes the Republicans have been trying for years to eliminate. He has done this a number of times and the democrats love him for it. But the truth is that he does have little to worry about (because you can be sure his lawyers have protected his wealth), and neither do other very very rich people (who also have plenty of lawyers). But there are a whole lot of us without lawyers on staff and without tons of millions who do not want to be double-taxed at death. It is time to get rid of this tax and, if needed, to tax the daylight out of the very wealth who are cheating the system while they are alive.

News that Apple, Inc. is in discussions with China Mobile will give the stock a massive move up, recovering some of its lost ground. Traders and even long-term investors should consider using this as an opportunity to take profits.

Americans are ooing and ahhing over Nicolas Sarkozy and his visit to the US yesterday, but they should be looking at the transcript of what he said and responding.

It seems like the bidding on TeleAtlas is just beginning now.

Cheng Siwei, vice chairman of China's National People's Congress, told a conference in Beijing the country should improve the structure of its $1.43 trillion of foreign reserves by favoring stronger currencies. This is another impact of the recent rates cuts of the Fed, The dollar is collapsing and the momentum of this collapse is accelerating.

More bad news for MRK and SGP. A presentation which hadn't gathered any pre-meeting publicity shows that cutting zetia in half can half costs, while not altering affect on lipids.

Here is how I anticipate the big trials out of the AHA panning out and how you can trade based on these projected results

We may have more vcrs, tvs, ipods, and computers but our standard of living is in the toilet. A look at some common stats will make that clear. The first step to fixing the problem is recognizing that we have one.

The market plunge today resulted from trader panic over more bad news about credit (surprise!), the Fed’s reservations about further cuts (surprise!), and Exxon’s missed numbers (surprise!). Surging oil prices and profit declines by the big Oils would have been enough on their own to cause panic among market movers. It is hard to understand why the obvious always catches the markets by surprise, but it sure does. Trader concern is largely knee jerk, and worry about Exxon is hardly rational; the company’s dip in profits will shake out in a relatively short time as the “crack� or spread between producing and selling widens. This is an opportunity for the investor, not a time to short or run for cover.

I am not sure that Garmin is headed in the right direction.

Google's stock is moving dramatically higher - today, doing it on a weak day. Can it continue?

The Fed has cut the Fed funds rate again.