Jim Hawthorne

Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

Wow! Nobody was expecting GOOD news today, but your excellent post this morning has PANIC written all over it, Rachael! Watching the Big Banks, Central Banks, Insurers, and Governments these days is like watching old 'Keystone Cops' clips... but in dead silence and with nobody laughing.....

Insanity truly does consist of doing the same old things over and over again while hoping, praying and expecting a different outcome...

Buffett Metric Doesn't Say It's Time to Buy

Nice article, Todd! As usual, you dig beneath the shrill headlines and the 30 second sound bites!

Despite the reams of articles supposedly describing either the 'Buffett-style of investing' or reporting on what he has or has not done, many still fail to understand or appreciate the simple, patient elegance of his investing methodology.

This investment methodology is based on fundamental valuation (including management competence), LOB/product/service prospectus, and long-term viability.

Buffett does not so much time the overall market as time the 'reversion to the mean' of the individual equities on his radar screen, snapping them up when they fall well below projected valuations.

While we can indeed chart Buffett's moves and see how he moves into positions after deviations from the mean, he has never lost sight of the simple fact that charts are driven by price action through time; Price is not driven by trendlines on a chart!

Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

Re:'Buy American, sort of.'
I for one was very glad to see the Senate 'soften' the 'Buy American' language of stimulus package.

Recognizing that protectionism deepened the depression of the 1930's and actually was largely responsible for worsening the global effects, it makes little sense to 'circle the wagons' and close the barn doors long after the horses have made their escape!

Whether we like it or not, this is a wold-wide recession, and we're all in this together!

If we can't compete our way out of this mess, then we'd better find a way to co-operate our way out of it!

Buying Dow for a Better Deal than Warren Buffett Got

I was trying to remember when and if I ever saw a dog sicker than this one get better. I can't; and my whiskers are pretty much all grey now.
Todd, can you give us a good technical indicator for a buy here? No? Okay, how about a good fundamental one?
Don't need to hurry... I can wait...