Happy New Year!

What can be said in New Year rhymes, That's not been said a thousand times? The new years come, the old years go, We know we dream, we dream we know.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

S&P 500 moves back above its 50-day MA

After a week of choppy, range-bound trading, stocks made a definitive move to the upside yesterday.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

How information gets into price

In most finance classes we talk about how information gets into the price of securities. Here is a great example. Apple (which SIMM owns) has traded down on rumors that Steve Jobs is sick.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Case Shiller and CAR Analysis December 2008 Release

California Association of Realtors C.A.R. Data The following chart is from my friend "TC" who has been monitoring California Association of Realtors (C.A.R.) and DQNews data. C.A.R.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Rumours About Steve Jobs

Looks like Iphone girl won't have Skinny Steve Jobs rumors to deal with too long in 2009, as per this from Gizmodo.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

The kings is dead... long live the king!

George Bush rides off to the ranch, economy in a shambles (of course he inherited the seeds of this mess from Clinton and some of the same people garnering appointments in the Obama administra  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

The New Year... and Beyond

So what does 2009 hold for the economy?  Andrew Tanzer at Kiplinger.com shares the views of many economists by seeing a rough time ahead: The U.S.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Tax moves you must make today

Are you ready to party!? I don't want to get in the way of your New Year's Eve preparations, but I do want to mention a few literally last-minute tax moves that could be a real cause for celebration.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Piper Jaffray Said Weak Holiday eCommerce Data Supports Thesis of Slow '09 For Amazon (AMZN)

Analysts at Piper Jaffray commented on Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) following comScore data which showed that total eCommerce sales declined 4% Y/Y QTD for Q4 and declined 37% Y/Y in the last full week o  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

PGI trade of the day

PGI came across my scanner late in the trading day. I had not taken a trade till I saw PGI. I was about ready to say it's a day and eat lunch.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Weekly Unemployment Claims Decline

From the DOL: Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report In the week ending Dec.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

General Motors Fighting Uphill Battle with Double Edged Sword

Shortly after the U.S. government lent the Big Three $17.4 billion, we learned Monday that an additional $6 billion of taxpayer money is headed to GMAC, the large General Motors finance arm.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Still time to save on autos & taxes

If you really believe gasoline will continue to cost around $1.50 a gallon, give me a call. I have a personal bailout package you might be interested in funding.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Nice follow-through in the shiny ETFs

Yesterday's action was a tale of two markets. Stocks drifted steadily lower throughout the first half of the day, then reversed to trend higher later in the afternoon.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Growing Unrest In Russia Amidst Economic Crisis

Falling oil prices, a collapsing Ruble, and a souring economy have Russia in the worst crisis in over a decade. The Financial Times is talking about this in Russian economy: The Putin defence .  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Gizmodo Rumor: Apple's (AAPL) Jobs Health Failing

Because of the number of rumors about the health of Apple (AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs, it is hard to know which has any validity.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Lesson from the Bernie Madoff Ponzi Scheme

As more and more news comes out about Bernie Madoff and how he managed to defraud many very smart people out of billions of dollars, it is useful to ask a simple question; what should we learn from wh  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

SUPERCHARGE YOUR DEPRECIATION DEDUCTIONS

How much extra did you pay in taxes in 2007 not using the component method of depreciation because your accountant did not know about this powerful legal strategy? And, with little risk.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

What Did We Learn About the VIX in 2008

Well, in options world, we learned volatility could literally do anything. The year began with a nasty January, and a (very) brief volatility pop through 30.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

China To Build Strategic Oil Reserves (SNP)

In late 2005, China began to fill its strategic petroleum reserve of 102 million barrels.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

2008 Year-end Money Moves: Details

2008 is almost over, but there's still time to take care some financial housekeeping. Today, Part 5 of our Year-end Money Moves looks at ways to deal with these necessary fiscal tasks.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Financial crisis of '08 among the worst ever

An interesting look at the current economic crisis from a historic perspective.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

It Was Only a Matter of Time . . .

| Peter Klein |  . . . before someone blamed the financial crisis on agency theory.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Bullish developments in gold and silver ETFs

Not surprisingly, stocks meandered through another slow session of trading last Friday, as investors and traders remained in holiday mode ahead of New Year's Day.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

The Fed Cannot Create Economic Growth

John Tamny RealClearMarkets As the year 1970 drew to a close, some of President Richard Nixon's top economic advisors were frantically searching for ways to grow the economy ahead of the '72 el  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

NFIB Top 9 Questions for November

The NFIB 411 TOP 9 Questions for December 2008  focus on the economic challenges business owners are facing.   1.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Closing In: The Optimum Corporation Size is Approaching One

An artic  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Keep the giving going

Another Christmas has come and gone and, as always, it was a fine one. Every year the hubby comes through on special (and other) occasions.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Holiday Success At Amazon (AMZN) Runs Against The Grain

Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon (AMZN) is the internet's great escape artist. His company has been in trouble countless times only to emerge better off.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Boxing Day Bargains Are Good Tax Strategy Too

I wrote a few days ago about how important it is for small businesses
to support each other this holiday season.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Being California Gets More Expensive

Institutions that are not likely to pay their bills have to offer higher interest rates for capital. Old rule. Usually works.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

And then again, some bears DO get it...

I could not recommend this piece on deflation by Rick Ackerman more highly: In Killer Deflation, Trust One Asset. Once again, I will trot out the 2005 email exchange between Mr.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Japan Industrial Output: Cliff Diving

From MarketWatch: Japan November industrial output falls 'off the cliff' Japan's industrial output tumbled at a record pace in November, stoking fears the country's recession may stretch longer and  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Traders Say Madoff's Strategy Was Unworkable - WSJ.com

Traders Say Madoff's Strategy Was Unworkable - WSJ.com : "The other red flag easily available to investors was the shallow volume in the options Mr. Madoff claimed to use as a hedge.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

International ETFs at ideal buy entry points

Stocks scored a modest round of gains ahead of the Christmas Day holiday in last Wednesday's shortened session, enabling the Dow to snap its five-day losing streak.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Durables Numbers Look Better Than Expected

Orders for U.S.-made durable goods fell 1% in November, the Commerce Department estimated Wednesday, as orders for transportation goods fell 7.4%.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Money tips from holiday experts

Yikes! Christmas Eve! That exclamation of dismay is not, well, dismay. I love Christmas.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

As Business Crashes, New York Times (NYT) Moves To Survival Mode

It would have been hard for The New York Times (NYT) to post numbers much worse than their sales for November. Advertising revenues for the News Media Group, which includes the firm's newspapers.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Estimating PCE Growth for Q4 2008

Last quarter I was the first to note that PCE would probably be negative in the quarter based on the " two month estimate ". That was the first decline in PCE since Q4 1991.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

In a market economy, don't fear the wealthy

I told my undergraduates that in a market economy there's little reason to fear rich people.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Oil Companies Looking Further Ahead

Highlighted below are next year's oil contracts and the open interest for each.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Seasonal Greetings

Way back all the way in ... September, guess it wasn't that long ago........I wondered how ultra short ETF's have distributions to .....distribute. Greg of Naked Shorts gave me the answer.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Solar energy ready to shine again?

Trading kicked off the holiday-shortened week on a negative note yesterday, as the broad market trended lower throughout the session, but a late-day reversal halved the substantial closing losses o  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Top stories of 2008

We reveal the most read stories of the year, led by a warning about Icelandic banks in February.


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[Source: This is Money | Money blog]

Housing Bust Impacting Labor Mobility

From the WSJ: U.S. State-to-State Migration Slowed, Census Reports The great migration south and west in the U.S. is slowing, thanks to a housing crisis that is making it hard for many to move.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Gold

Having spent the last 3 months twittling my gold ratio charts in service to the bullish gold miner stance, I have really neglected the nominal price of gold. Actually, I haven't.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Consumer Demand For Nearly Everything Plunges

Retail stores and exporters alike are in deep trouble as consumer demand for nearly everything is plunging.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Best of 2008: New Iphone and Leveraged ETF Edition

It's year end and it appears the noteworthy long term underperformance of pretty much everything "leverage" has caught everyone's attention.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Manhatten Office Vacancy Rate Rises to 10.9%

From Reuters: Manhattan office vacancy rate hits two-year high The overall vacancy rate rose to 10.9 percent in the fourth quarter, the highest level in two years and more than three percentage poin  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

I'd like to buy the world tax help

Once again this year, the TaxProf made a list of potential Christmas gifts for the tax geek in your life. This Coca-Cola ad from 1969 is my favorite find this year.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Madoff's Holiday Gift

It is easy to see the Madoff affair as all bad. Regulators missed critical warnings. How many other cases like this are still hiding under rocks? Foundations and personal fortunes were wiped out.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

It's the little things that matter

Often it's small things that can have large effects on our bottom line.
Here is an example which uses a trade I'm currently in.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Japan Exports: The First Economy To Fall Hard

While GDP measurements vary a bit from country to country, Japan is probably the world's second largest economy.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Turning a Double into a Triple

First Blago, now Warren?   read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Inflation - early in the cycle

It will take a while to show up in prices but we are inflating. The manic price rises of the coming decade have got to come from somewhere.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

10 Goal Setting Tips

This is the time of year that a lot of people set goals (yours truly included). But are you setting goals in a way that's going to help you achieve or just wasting your time?  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Waiting for the trend resolution...

Stocks got off to a positive start last Friday morning, initially positioning the broad market for a strong finish to the week, but the major indices drifted lower throughout the day, causing them  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

WSJ: Commercial Property Investors Seek Bailout

From the WSJ: Developers Ask U.S.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Fiscal Insanity Virus Rapidly Spreading The Globe (Part 2)

This post is a continuation of Dangerous Virus Rapidly Spreading The Globe (Part 1) . If you have not yet done so, please read part 1. The symptoms of the FIV disease are complex.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Leverage This!

So I believe I have come full circle on all these leveraged ETF's. My first reaction was they were useless, I mean I can create my own leverage if I want (Just buy DEEEEEEEPS!).  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

AIG Fire Sales Hartford

AIG (AIG) sold its Hartford Steam Boiler unit to Germany's Munich Re for $742 million, a steep discount from what AIG paid for HSB in 2000.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Fulfilling the needs of the majority of your clients - at all costs (?)

(I'll leave it with you to use the brackets around the question mark or to remove them: you'll have to decide for yourself if for you it is a statement or a question after reading our observation belo  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

CarMax Not Reducing Costs Quickly

CarMax (KMX) reported terrible Q3 results. They lost money, have halted store openings and are trying to cut variable costs. Given the business they are in this should not be surprising.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Tips for Running A Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization

I got an email the other day a week or more ago from a subscriber of the blog and a college student. He has been working on starting up an organization for student entrepreneurs at his school.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Economy killing home tax break, redux

It's good to see the New York Times finally caught up. In today's edition, the paper looks at how a Tax Break May Have Helped Cause Housing Bubble .  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Bush Wimps Out On Autos

In a historic 8 year term of not doing a single major thing right, Bush blows it again with a toothless $17.4 billion handover to the automakers .  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

The Fed Has Gone Nuclear

On Tuesday, Fed Chairman Bernanke announced that the Fed was for the first time in history cutting its target funds rate to 0 percent (a range of 0 to .25 percent, to be exact, but it's close enough  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Expiration Trading Patterns

Michael from MarketSci blog has this interesting data regarding expiration week directional moves.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Still range-bound...

After a choppy morning session, stocks sold off throughout much of the afternoon, then bounced off their lows in the last half hour of trading.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

More Talk Of An "Orderly" Bankruptcy At GM (GM)

The Bush White House let it leak out yesterday that it was looking at Chapter 11 as a possible way to deal with GM (GM).  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Chinese Banks' Great Leap Backward - WSJ.com

In the department of what else can we worry about? The WSJ suggests that Chinese banks are being pressured to take some major chances.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Bad housing policy proposals never die...

they just get recycled on the WSJ opinion page. R. Glenn Hubbard and Christopher Mayer are back again: Low-Interest Mortgages Are the Answer. Here was my response to their previous proposal .  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

DataQuick: Almost 50% of Home Sales are Foreclosure Resales in California Bay Area

NOTE from CR: be careful with median prices.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Making Content Sites Profitable

A new report from ContentNext, which is available at their site, Paidcontent.org, reviews the financial prospects of political and news sites.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

In Hindsight Bernanke Was Prophetic in 2002

Federal Reserve chairman Ben "Printing Press" Bernanke and his fellows around the FOMC oak table may appear being behind the curve since the onset of the debt crisis in August 2007.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Rangebound

The markets continue to hold up under important levels of resistance. The most significant level for the Qs continues to be near 30.85.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Two days in a row above the 50-day MAs...

Stocks followed up Tuesday's impressive gains with a healthy session of price consolidation that led to mixed results yesterday.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

How To Spot A Toxic Wife

The UK Telegraph had an interesting article on a new breed of Toxic Wives. Their sole aim in life is to find a rich husband, had a kid and then get a divorce and milk him for half of his wealth.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Mary Shapiro Can She Enforce "Thou Shalt Not Steal"

SEC gets a new chairman Mary Shapiro. Sounds like a good choice by Obama. The real proof will be in how the new regulatory environment will unfold. We are currently in a serious crisis.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Bond Investors Turn Bullish on Treasuries

Here is a headline I am laughing at: Bond Investors Turn Most Bullish on Treasuries Since February Treasuries will appreciate over the next six months as the U.S.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Freddie Mac: 30 Year Mortgage Rates Lowest Since Survey Started

From MarketWatch: 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at 37-year low The benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage tumbled to a national average 5.17% this week, the lowest level since Freddie Mac began its wee  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Want To See Your Favorite Hedge Fund's Holdings?

You can't see all their holdings. But you can see quite a bit.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Follow-up on Community Banks Outlook for 2009

In a follow-up to the post I wrote yesterday, the Nashville Post has a story today that confirms my outlook for bank lending to entrepreneurial ventures in 2009.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Sentiment Squarely Shifts from Selling Rallies to Buying Dips

Per the Sunday night blog which outlined the point of control for the
market coming into this week, today's robust price action reaffirms the
bullish sentiment in a number of major crosses, commodit  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Chrysler Shuts Down All Factories

From MarketWatch: Chrysler to idle all factories for at least a month Chrysler said Wednesday that it will idle all of its manufacturing operations starting this Friday through at least January 19 i  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Wave of Frozen Salaries, Frozen Pension Contributions on the Way

As corporate profits collapse, companies have no choice but to cut expenses. In the months ahead, expect to see many more headlines like this one: Motorola to freeze salaries, pensions .  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Bad housing policy proposals never die ...

they just get recycled on the WSJ opinion page. R. Glenn Hubbard and Christopher Mayer are back again: Low-Interest Mortgages Are the Answer .  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Financing Outlook for 2009

So what will be the watchwords for financing entrepreneurial ventures in 2009?  Bootstrapping and angel investments.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Eliot Spitzer Lost Money With Madoff

Class jokes rarely are funny to those not in the class, but since some former students may still br reading the bog I will include the following from Clusterstock.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

SIPC's Role In Madoff-Of-All-Scams Could Save The Stock Market

The SIPC came out with a statement last night indicating that they will be involved in the Madoff situation.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

GE Changes Disclosure and Guidance Policy

General Electric (GE) announced guidance for the remainder of 2008 (like two weeks left) and the all important 2009.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Quantitative Easing American Style: Free Money

The Treasury rally continued in spectacular fashion in conjunction with the ZIRP Arrival: Fed Targets Interest Rates 0 to 1/4 Percent. From the FOMC Press Release.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Stock market breaks out, but where's the next stop?

After more than a week of deliberation between key support and resistance levels, the major indices convincingly broke out yesterday, closing above their 50-day moving averages for the first time i  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Will The Recession Stop Global Warming?

The recession has touched almost everything in the world from employment, to prices, to GDP growth to housing. Even China is seeing its economy slow.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Another Survey Finds that Credit is not the Problem

Another survey of small business owners, this one from Wells Fargo, has found that entrepreneurs are losing confidence.  However, as with other recent studies I have posted about, most of th  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Housing Starts Decline to Record Low

Click on graph for larger image in new window.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

The Car Czar: Auto Firms May Go Bankrupt Anyway

The car czar is a joke, a way to get a few billion dollars to GM (GM) and Chrysler while they move their companies in better shape for certain Chapter 11 filings.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

OPEC Looks at 2 Million Barrel Production Cut

In the wake of a global recession that has oil prices off 70 percent since mid-summer Saudis say 2 million barrel production cut likely OPEC powerhouse Saudi Arabia said Tuesday that the oil cartel  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Fed Funds Rate Target from ZERO to 0.25%

This is quite a statement ... Fed will hold rates low for an extended period.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Expect Smaller If Any Pay Raises In 2009

The latest business survey from Hewitt Associates Inc.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

FINTAG COMMENT - Madoff

FINTAG COMMENT Madoff part 2. Last Thursday the news broke and it hardly registered a blip on the news radar.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

New ETF setups for after the Fed meeting

Stocks kicked off the week with a lethargic session of broad-based losses yesterday, as traders moved to the sidelines ahead of today's Fed decision on interest rates and economic policy.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

FDIC Increases Insurance Rates

From the FDIC: FDIC Adopts Assessments for Insured Institutions for 2009 The Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) today voted to adopt a final rule increasing risk-  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Weakened At Bernie's

It's a very very very special edition of Street Signs today, Erin in her finest Velvet to celebrate (photo evidence unavailable at this time).  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Goldman Compensation Cost Still High

Goldman Sachs (GS) reported Q4 results and of course lost money. If they had shown black ink no one would have believed it. Take a look at compensation costs as a percentage of revenues.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

What If Goldman Sachs & Morgan Stanley Actually Make Money?

This is a very important week for earnings from brokerage firms (or the new bank holding companies).  Tomorrow morning we have earnings from Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) and on Wednesday mornin  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Semis leading the way higher (for a change)

A negative reaction to the U.S.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Bill Miller: The Stock Picker's Defeat

From 1991 to 2005, Bill Miller (superstar mutual fund manager for Legg Mason's Value Trust) beat the S&P every year - a record no other manager has ever come close to matching.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

No Word on Auto Bailout

From the WSJ: Treasury Still Studying Auto Rescue The U.S. Treasury Department said Monday it has made no decisions on how to engineer a rescue effort for U.S. auto makers, ...  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Bear Market Blagojevich

I've sometimes thought of liquidation that occurs during bear markets as akin to those old fables about the over-ambitious offering up their eternal souls for temporal glories.  I'm no liquida  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Solar Power at the Inflection Point

A hat-tip to Alacra's Research Recap and their Research Primer: Wind Power, which pointed me to this very  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Bernie Madoff's Victims: The List

Clusterstock is reporting that not only the Wilpons but also the Mets' minority owner Saul Katz lost money at the hands of Madoff. (also many any others.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Browns not the messiah, hes a very naughty boy

Germany's attack on the UK shows not everyone is a fan of self-proclaimed economic superhero Gordon Brown


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[Source: This is Money | Money blog]

Ship To Shore

Somewhere between the moon and New York City, DRYS has gone nuts again. Implied volatility north of 200. The stock still has a 10 full, so one would think you can short the options board.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Are Generation Y'ers Keeping The Economy Alive?

With the holiday season here and almost past us, it is nice to see that spending has not decreased a whole lot from last year.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Facing Concerns About It's Future, Bank Of America (BAC) To Cut 35,000 Jobs

Anyone curious about the health of the financial services industry got a look Thursday afternoon. Bank of America (BAC) will cut 35,000 jobs over the next three years.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Is this the end of inflated 'brand' prices?

Thanks to Tesco's 'Discounter' range, millions of Brits are waking up to the rip-off of needlessly paying the cost of adverts in their weekly shop


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[Source: This is Money | Money blog]

Construction Employment as Percent of Total Employment

In the previous post, I excerpted from my post in 2005 arguing that the areas with the most real estate related employment would suffer the most in the then coming housing bust.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

The "Not So Entrepreneurial" Generation?

The millennial generation is, as they say, an enigma wrapped inside of a contradiction. In a column at Forbes, Dr.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Market down today, but not out. . .

Opening lower out of the starting gate, stocks initially showed resilience again by reversing into positive territory by mid-day, but the Dow's fourth straight test of its 50-day moving average att  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Fed Won't Tell Who Got The $2 Trillion

In a move not exactly designed to lower investors fears about rampant monetary inflation and other shady dealings without congressional oversight in the USA the Federal Reserve is battening down the h  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Forecaster: Negative Q4 GDP in China

ISI's Ed Hyman is telling clients that he expects GDP growth in China at a 2% annual rate in Q3, and negative 1% in Q4 2008. This is far below most forecasts! Hyman also lowered his Q4 U.S.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

GM Idling Plants In Cost Cuts (GM)

General Motors (NYSE: GM) is finally taking a step in the obvious direction.  The company is now apparently cutting about 250,000 units of production in the first quarter.  This will be acco  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

The Schumpeter Club

In his blog for US News, James Pethokoukis suggests that it is time for free market fans to organize: [T]his the inaugural post of The Schumpeter Club.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Retail Sales Off Sharply in November

The Census Bureau reports that retail sales collapsed in October: The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that advance estimates of U.S.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Return of the VIX (Sonar)

Some interesting trades in the VIX options/futures yesterday while the market slept before the late day selloff. And the overnight implosion. Buyers in Dec. 50 puts for 65 cents and Dec.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Madoff arrested, charged; may be facing $50 bln in losses: FBI - MarketWatch

When it rains it pours! As if investors didn't have enough to worry about, you can now add whether their fiduciaries are not only investing poorly, but whether they are ripping them off completely!  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

A Recession Is Part Of The Game And How To Survive In A Recession!

The DOL reports on weekly unemployment insurance claims : In the week ending Dec.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Costco (COST): Making The Poor Feel Rich

Wal-Mart (WMT) put out strong same-store numbers for its most recently reported period.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Total Household Net Worth as Percent of GDP Destabilizes

Some more data from the Fed's Q3 2008 Flow of Funds report ... Click on graph for larger image in new window. This is the Households and Nonprofit Net Worth as a percent of GDP.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Waiting for the volatility expansion. . .

After beginning the day slightly higher, the major indices meandered in a narrow, sideways range throughout the entire session before finishing in firmly positive territory.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

6 Ways to Lower Your Income Tax Before Year End

It's easy enough to forget during this festive time of year, but fiscal year end is only three weeks away for many small businesses. But are you going to pay more income tax than you should?  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

New Retirement Plan Rules and Regulations Kicking In

The Labor Department has finally decided to increase disclosure requirements by retirement plan service providers regarding compensation arrangements and other potential conflicts of interest.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

The Predictive Power of Implied Volatility: Evidence from the Over-the-Counter Stock Index Options Market in Hong Kong and Japan

In preparing for this weekend's derivatives lecture, I found this new paper by Yu and Lui that is consistent with the previous view that Implied Volatility is a better forecaster than either historica  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

2008 Year-end Money Moves: Investments

Remember about a week ago when I promised you Don't Mess With Taxes' second annual Year-end Money Moves series and kicked it off with tax moves to make by Dec. 31? I haven't forgotten!  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

More bailout-related tax shenanigans

Washington, D.C., is at it again. First it was the U.S. Treasury with its changes in regulations to allow banks to benefit from net operating losses.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Progressive Excess Bond Reliance

Progressive Corporation (PGR) announced Nov numbers. The press release was a masterful executive summary of all the good stuff.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Learning from the Collapse from the People Who Saw It Coming

With a new Administration in the wings, and the financial crisis, if not resolved, somehow moving into a state where we can think about something besides today's Dow Jones, thought leaders are star  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Freight Haulers Prepare for "Nuclear Winter"

From the WSJ: Freight Haulers Slam on the Brakes In a normal year, Gordon Trucking Inc. might replace 20% of its fleet of 1,500 big rigs with new trucks.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

The Long-Run and International Evidence on the Value Premium

The term "Value Premium" refers to the empirical observation that firms with low price multiples (i.e Price/Book, Price/Earnings, Price/Cash Flow) have tended to have higher returns than the  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Semiconductor Index ($SOX) wakes up

The Dow's test of its 50-day moving average provided the perfect excuse for stocks to pull back yesterday, but lower turnover kept the broad market looking good "under the hood." After o  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

NASCAR supports Big Three auto bailout

This afternoon, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said that legislative body will probably act first on a $15 billion auto industry bailout package.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

2008 Year-end Money Moves: Investments

Remember about a week ago when I promised you Don't Mess With Taxes' second annual Year-end Money Moves series and kicked it off with tax moves to make by Dec. 31 ? I haven't forgotten!  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Wanted: Investors in Russian Energy (XOM, RDS.A, BP)

Falling crude oil prices have hit Russia particularly hard. The country needs a crude price of about $70/b to cover production costs and to fund the government.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

America's Lost Decade

Bill Miller's rise and fall. It's chronicled in a long article in today's Wall Street Journal. The piece is called " The Stock Picker's Defeat.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Economic Potpourri

News is flying out of every corner at record speeds. Here are a few headline news reports of interest from the past couple days.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

When renting a ship to anchor it offshore makes sense (and cents!)

Contango and Backwardation are two terms that confuse many students.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Say what? Yep a negative T-bill rate

From Bloomberg.com: Treasury Bills Trade at Negative Rates as Haven Demand Surges : "Treasuries rose, pushing rates on the three-month bill negative for the first time, as investors gravitate t  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Sony to Cut 16,000 jobs, Reduce Capital Spending

From Bloomberg: Sony Will Cut 16,000 Jobs as Recession Curbs Demand Sony Corp. ... plans to eliminate 16,000 jobs ...  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Treasury Bills Trade at Negative Rates

Form Bloomberg: Treasury Bills Trade at Negative Rates as Haven Demand Surges (hat tip Justin) Treasuries rose, pushing rates on the three-month bill negative for the first time ...  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Austrian CB Projects Mild Recession In 2009

Eurozone member Austria is slipping into a recession these days that will last during 2009, the Austrian central bank said in a press release on Tuesday.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

So normal it's scary

The stock market is now acting 'normal'.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Pending Home Sales Decline In October

From the NAR: Pending Home Sales Holding In Stable Range The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in October, slipped 0.7 percent to 88.9 from an upwardly  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Flawed Auto Plan Makes Way Through Congress

It will be interesting to see if Shelby carries out his threat to filibuster the flawed auto plan that is making its way through Congress.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Uncle Buck - In for a checkup

Click to expand chart Uncle Buck looks sickly from these panic fueled levels.  read more »

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[Source: The Money Blogs]