Anthony Alfidi

Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

An AIG comeback "if" financial markets stabilize is a pretty big "if," so the taxpayer had best hope the Fed keeps ZIRP in place to support the phony recovery.

Barclays' theft of $5B from Lehman's creditors shows us the agency problem again. Lehman's managers put their own personal interests ahead of fiduciaries. What else is new on Wall Street? Maybe we need to scatter the Street's traders around the country and build brand new firms based on partnerships. That way execs risk their own capital on every decision.

Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

Helicopter Ben isn't hiking rates anywhere near 2% until the U.S.'s entitlement liabilities are inflated away or foreign central banks quit buying Treasuries, whichever comes first.

Positive earnings results from MCD wouldn't be a surprise given their downmarket positioning. Positives from AAPL and WHR would be very positive indeed.

Drug companies to benefit? You don't say? Check their campaign contributions to evaluate the ROI on what they spent to get that outcome.

Shut down CIT already.

Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

Corporate resistance to the overseas tax grab means more taxes are still coming - for the middle class. That's what the health care imbroglio is really about IMHO.

This CIT bankruptcy has an excessivley long denouement. Just get it over with already.

Regulators can pay all the lip service they want to cracking down on variations of HFT. They won't do anything until after a market crisis erupts. The past is prologue.

RailAmerica's disappointing IPO ought to give pause to all the resurgent bulls who think happy days are here again.

Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

Cadbury - what a sweet deal! (had to say it)

The G-20 banking reform proposal is only significant if regulators follow through with enforcement. That has not occurred in the U.S. because it would expose the banking system's continued insolvency.

AIG's "major assets" are worth less than nothing, so they're saving the worst for last. Selling the smaller but still valuable stuff first fools the market into thinking AIG's stock price should be anything but zero.

Russian oil output surpassing Saudi Arabia? Uh oh, maybe Ghawar has peaked.

Sobering Stat: ARMS Index Indicates Market Is at Peak, Not Bottom

Want a real bearish indicator? Check out the P/E ratio of the S&P 500. It's up around 140; granted that only takes into account this year's massive drop in earnings but it's still sobering. IMHO this bear market rally has peaked right about now.

Four Reasons We're Headed Even Higher

One reason the market's not going higher: The fiscal stimulus is due to expire. Without a second stimulus as artificial sweetener, the marfket's unsustainable rise thus far in 2009 cannot be sustained.

Freddie Mac Trading Notes

Here's a winning trade for Phoney and Fraudie: walk away.

What to Buy and Why: Barron's 2009 Roundtable, Part II

Bill Gross is funny. He thinks bonds are a value trap even though he's started buying them again. I guess he paid more than he expected, so trying to talk the market down might work for Pimp-Co.

Losing Trades: When to Double Down

If the stock has consistent earnings, low debt, and a durable competitive advantage, then a 10% drop is a buying opportunity.

AIG Becomes the Fed’s Vehicle to Buy Toxic Assets

If you like this, you'll love the next phase of the Fed's quant easing strategy. All the Fed has to do is make new loans to insolvent commercial banks with the stipulation that they buy Treasury bonds (funding the fiscal stimulus) and hold those bonds as loan collateral with the Fed. Presto! The economy is stimulated and we get the "crowding out" effect even with record low bond yields.