Alphameister

7 Steps Towards Real Free Market Capitalism

The text did not live up to the title. If you'd read Milton Friedman, you would know he favored revocation of laws against insider trading. And Ron Paul is about the only outspoken advocate of free-market capitalism to be found in the U.S. Congress. Agree fully with your concluding sentence, though it doesn't appear you are quite there yet. All the best in refining your understanding of the free market.

Options Trader Friday Outlook: Up, Up and Away

Through quantitative easing, the US bought some time to devise optimal approaches to short-term and long-term problems that seem almost insurmountable. Instead, the boneheads in Washington are devising the worst imaginable approaches to resolving these problems. The easy money has been made in this relief rally; from here onward, it's going to be a long hard slog (and that's the most optimistic of possible outcomes).

Global Markets in Review: Emerging Markets Showing First Signs of Retrenchment?

Great news on the TED spread. The recent exponential rise in the Shanghai index begged for correction, as did the solid green in your last presentation of the matrix of market performances. Long-term picture remains bullish based on the technical evidence.

Five Reasons the Market Could Crash This Fall

Significantly hedged as of today, but wondering if I acted too soon after reading all the pessimism in this post and the comments it elicited. Up 110% ytd through investment/trading in Chinese stocks that have gone from about 4-5 times earnings (and a discount from book value) on average to 8-9 times higher and rising earnings, plus a handful of U.S. techs and biotechs that have also delivered gains that annualize to several hundred percent. Talk about irrational gains all you want, but this value and growth investor feels like a kid in a candy store even after the best rates of gain I've ever experienced. I see dozens of stocks that deserve to be trading 50% to 100% higher right now based on relatively conservative fundamental analysis.

Personal Income, Savings and Retail Stocks: Reality Speaks

Perhaps the year-over-year decline is dramatic by historical standards, but measured against such rhetoric as "retail sales have fallen off a cliff," and against talk of the economy "sinking into a black hole," I find the above numbers reasonably comforting. That being said, US retail is not a sector I like for the long-term.

Un-American Government Intervention

Good article. Property rights are being replaced by "the greatest good for the most deserving" (i.e., friends of Obama). It's not about laws; it's all about empathy.

No Market Gain Without Economic Pain

We are a nation devoted to instant gratification and pain avoidance, nowhere more evident than in the nation's capital. This nation's greatest generation emerged from the crucible of the Great Depression. I expect that considerable good will flow from today's somewhat lesser depression as well, though it is an environment frought with political risks.

Holman Jenkins's Errors, Part 1

The road to hell is paved with good intentions, but, when we find ourselves in hell, it's imperative we find villains to blame. I haven't read Jenkin's treatise, but I'm guessing that his main theme is that a lot of very smart, well-intentioned people from Washington to Wall Street to Obama's Chicago Acorns got caught up in the idea that housing prices could move in only one direction and that it was unfair to deny the poor and the irresponsible an opportunity to profit from the great housing boom. I don't doubt that guys closest to the action, such as Mazillo, came to understand that it would all end badly. But if it was all so obvious, a lot more of us should have been able to profit from it.

Bear Market Rally or New Bull Market - How to Profit Regardless

Although market trend accounts for more than half the move of stocks in general, the market is no monolith. I see the same threats to near-term market gains that you do, plus several you haven't mentioned (insider selling, technical resistance levels, sentiment indicators that show too much bullishness). And my approach in this market is similar to yours though less sector oriented. At the same time that many early leaders are stalling after big gains, hundreds of slower bloomers are poking above well-developed bases. On a daily basis, I am trimming or eliminating my holdings of the former to acquire or build positions in the latter. In addition, I am currently well hedged with a leveraged inverse ETF that not only limits my overall risk but holds the potential to profit on both sides of the market (as happened in today's market).

Fixing the Economic Crisis in Six Easy Steps

Open an express lane for would-be immigrants to the U.S. who would commit to buying a house within three months of their arrival. Eliminate mark-to-market accounting for at least two years. Cost to taxpayers: zero.