Thursday, October 16, 2008

20081015PM HOG ISRG JAVA , Lehman insurance soon due, Iceland 500K

DOW 8,577.91 -733.08 (-7.87%)
NASDAQ 1,628.33 -150.68 (-8.47%)
S&P 500 907.84 -90.17 (-9.03%)
Oil 75/barrel. Pump gas prices are dipping below $3/gallon.
Monday's record snapback rally was largely retraced today with aggressive selling into the close.
Asian markets on Thursday are selling off ~9%.

AFL 41.71 -4.36. Consider a short in the morning.
SRS (double inverse commercial real estate) has seen huge volatility, up 27% today.
HOG 24.53 -4.2. 52 week low and below Friday's range. Put a fork in this pig.
GOOG 339.17 -23.54. Anyone who bought in 2007 or 2088 has lost money. At what point will people bail?
RIMM 55.75 -4.37. Same as GOOG with underwater owners.
POT 76.85 -21.15. Heading to 50.
TOT 46.98 -6.76. French oil. Friday's low was 42.67.
PPD 32.03 -3.93. Consumers cutting back will drop this rip-off legal service. Holders from 2004 are above water.
ISRG 190.12 -34.20. Friday low was 153.30. Consider buying puts.
JAVA 4.97 -0.61. If this sees 5.5 this week, try to short.
APL 20.74 -0.92. Seemingly stable owner of pipelines that is tracking market down. Dividend now 18%. Looks to retest Friday's recent low of 15.3. Look to short in the morning.
EBAY 15.33 -2.41. Weak earnings guidance. Buyers in the past 5 years are underwater.


To Save the Banking Sector in Iceland Will Cost $500,000 Per Citizen
By Bill Bonner • October 16th, 2008

"What's the capital of Iceland?"
"Oh...about $6.50."
That's the joke that is making its way around London this morning.

Iceland has melted down. Now, the government has pledged to save the banking sector - but at a cost of nearly $500,000 per citizen! In Europe, the cost so far is estimated at about $7,000 per citizen. But experts insist that much of that money - loaned to the banks - will come back to the government.
And in America? Who knows...


Good news last week when Lehman's debt traded and cleared (below a dime on the dollar). This is good because it shows there was some value and the market can work without gov't interference and price fixing.
Bad news for those who insured the debt, as they owe the difference. This seems to be due next week. Will they be able to pay?

Big tab for Lehman swap sellers
Investors who bet Lehman Brothers wouldn’t default on its debt are, unsurprisingly, looking at a hefty bill. Sellers of credit default protection on the bankrupt New York brokerage firm will have to pay 91.38 cents on the dollar later this month to settle with the buyers of Lehman credit default swaps. The price was set in an auction Friday whose results were posted on Creditfixings.com.
...

Sunday, October 12, 2008

20081012PM BUD

DOW 8,451.19 -128.00
NASDAQ 1,649.51 +4.39
S&P 500 899.22 -10.70

Starting to buy a few more miners.

BUD 58.50 -3.11. InBev is scheduled to buy BUD for $70 cash by the end of the year.

Monday, October 06, 2008

20081006 1440 AGM ZYXI

Dow 9,569.21 -756.17 (7.32%)
Nasdaq 1,782.24 -165.15 (8.48%)
SP500 1,009.07 -90.16 (8.20%)
30-yr Bond 3.9420% -0.1810
Oil below $90/barrel.
Trailing stops selling out several positions.

AGM 9.35 +1.14 (13.89%). Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corp. Fannie, Freddie, Farmie. Went long today.
ZYXI 5.07 -0.03. Staying long.

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

S&P cash gap at 960

Oct 6 - 10 look for 2000 DOW points down with lots of volatility.
Look at S&P cash gap at 960. Hmmmm.

20081001PM GE DE

DOW 10,831.07 -19.59 (-0.18%)
NASDAQ 2,069.40 -22.48 (-1.07%)
S&P 500 1,161.06 -5.30 (-0.45%)

SDS 69.77 -0.53. Closed long position intraday.
DE 46.3 -3.2. New 52 week low today. 52 week range 46.00 - 94.89. This can go a lot lower, as financing for tractors is less available. Support in the 30s?
GE 24.50 -1.
On a September 25 conference call, CFO Keith Sherin was asked if GE would need to tap any lending facilities. Keith answered, "Absolutely not." (http://www.ge.com/pdf/investors/events/09252008/ge_transcript_09252008.pdf pages 9 and 10)

GE announced today (one week later) an "investment" by Warren Buffett that is structured like a loan. GE Announces Common Stock Offering; Warren Buffett Announces Investment In GE

Why didn't the CFO know a week ago that more funding would be needed? What changed in one week?