Colin Lea's  Instablog

The following shows the 3 month performance of Chevron (CVX) share price with recent legal decisions mapped against it.

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The plunge in share price commenced in line with the legal announcement on 09th October 2012, not following Chevron's 3rd Quarter earnings announcement on 02 November 2012.

Disclosure: I am long CVX.

During 2011 and 2012 I have been writing a series of articles on how Fortune Magazine's Top 10 stock picks have been performing. The key articles can be viewed via the links below:

Fortune Favors The Brave?

Fortune Favors The Brave, Part II

Fifty Percent Down In 2011, Will You Find Your Fortune In 2012?

Fortune Top 10 2012: Q1 Update

Fortune Top 10 Share Tips For 2012 Q3 Update

I have been tracking the weekly performance of the portfolio using Seeking Alpha's portfolio application, and to remind readers the 2012 portfolio contains the following stocks recommended by Fortune Magazine (all entry prices are as at 13th December 2011):

• Apple Inc (AAPL) $388.81
• Caterpillar (CAT) $90.98
• Enbridge Energy Partners (EEP) $30.55
• Goodyear Tire (GT) $13.42
• Halliburton (HAL) $31.86
• Intel (INTC) $23.56
• Johnson Controls (JCI) $29.99
• Lockheed Martin (LMT) $76.73
• Microsoft (MSFT) $25.76
• Royal Bank of Canada (RY) $46.89

Dangerous Territory

Following the recent sell off in Apple and the further (worsening) decline in stocks like Enbridge Energy Partners, Goodyear Tyre, Haliburton, Intel and Johnson Controls, the Fortune Top 10 portfolio is headed into dangerous territory for a potential negative total return for 2012. A copy of the portfolios performance return from 12.36% in mid August to 0.34% as at close of trade yesterday is shown below.

17 August 2012

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28 September 2102

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2 November 2012

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16 November 2012

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Post script: I will write a year end summary article in mid December.

Disclosure: I am long CAT.

Additional disclosure: This advice is general advice only. You should seek independent financial advice prior to making any investments of your own.

The following article is from today's Sydney Morning Herald, discussing Mark Bouris partnering with Macquarie Group to take on the Big Four Australian banks in the residential mortgage market. Bouris made his name in setting up Wizard Home Loans in 1996 which he then sold to GE. This will also place market pressure on Mortgage Choice as an Australian residential mortgage provider.

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By Georgia Wilkins

THE Mark Bouris-backed Yellow Brick Road has signed off on a deal with Macquarie Group that will see it competing with the big four banks in the nation's mortgage market.

The venture will see Macquarie fund mortgages through Yellow Brick Road's 130-store retail network, to offer ''aggressively priced'' mortgage products.

Mr Bouris, the Yellow Brick Road chairman, said the deal would ''bring back choice, access and competition like there was in the 1990s''.

''Plenty of commentators, including politicians, talk about the need for competition,'' he said.

''This is a game-changer that will take the big four head on.''

Under the deal, Yellow Brick Road will try to undercut the big banks by offering a 1.15 percentage-point discount on all new home loans for the first 12 months of the loan. It will also offer discounts for the life of the loan. Credit Suisse analyst James Ellis said the deal was ''bread and butter'' business for Macquarie, which orchestrated a similar contract with Aussie home loans 20 years ago.

But he said the market had changed considerably.

''When Aussie home loans entered the market, mortgage spreads were hundreds of basis points over the cash rate,'' he said.

''In a few years, it had quite a seismic and important impact. I wouldn't expect the same this time round because it's just a fundamentally different market.''

Mr Bouris made his name setting up Wizard Home Loans in 1996, which he later sold to GE Money for $500 million.

A spokesman for Treasurer Wayne Swan said the move showed competition was starting to heat up in the banking sector following a range of reforms last year.

''The government is supporting smaller lenders to compete with the big banks so that Australians who aren't happy with their bank can walk down the road and get a better deal,'' the spokesman said.

Since 2007, the big banks have increased their mortgage rates by an average of about 135 basis points compared with the cash rate. For credit unions and mutuals, the increase has been about 97 basis points relative to the cash rate.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/macquarie-group-takes-yellow-brick-road-into-home-loans-market-20121107-28ywl.html#ixzz2BZSWgiAu

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.