Earlier today we looked at US sector weightings, and below we take a look at the percentage of total world stock market cap that the largest countries make up. As shown below, the US and Japan, which were the two largest stock markets at the start of the year, have added

With Tuesday's dovish duo Bullard and Dudley to set expectations, the S&P 500 rallied in anticipation of Chairman Bernanke's congressional testimony and soared to its all-time intraday high, up 1.07% during his prepared remarks. But the Q&A deflated the balloon, and the 2 PM release of the latest Fed Minutes accelerated the decline. It seems that the possibility of tapering QE in the near term is not entirely off the table. The index hit its -1.23% intraday low about 30 minutes before the final bell. It then trimmed its loss to close down 0.83%. The 10-year yield jumped 9 bps to close at 2.03%, just off the 2013 interim high of 2.07% on

Annual Meeting of Stockholders Conference Transcript

May 22, 2013 4:30 PM ET

Executives

Pat Gage - Chairman

Lynne Parshall - Member of the Board

Robert Blum - President and CEO

Sharon Barbari - EVP, Finance and CFO

Marjorie Wagman - VP Legal Affairs and General Counsel

[Aaron Kurtz] - Senior Director, Finance

Dave Cragg - Senior Vice President, Human Resources

Joanna Goldstein - Independent Director

Scott Jordan - Independent Director

Wendell Wierenga - Independent Director

[Adrian Bennett] - PricewaterhouseCoopers

James Kirkland - Inspector of Election, Computershare

Analysts

Presentation

Pat Gage

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Pat Gage, and I’m the Chairman of Cytokinetics Board of Directors. It’s pleasure to welcome you for our 2013 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. The meeting is now called to order. I’ve asked Marjorie Wagman, Cytokinetics Vice President of Legal Affairs and General Counsel to record the minutes.

Before proceeding

When Apple CEO Tim Cook appeared in front of Carl Levin on Tuesday, I was hoping for an epic showdown, as presaged by Levin’s highly aggressive press release from Monday. I was sorely disappointed — although I did end up with a newfound admiration for Tim Cook’s ability to acquit himself with dignity and intelligence and integrity in the toughest of situations.

The Apple (AAPL) executives at the hearing spent most of their time politely listening to various senators pontificate about taxes. But every so often, in response to a rare direct question, they would try to explain why they didn’t think they were evading billions of dollars in taxes.

The Levin report is very long and dry, so let me oversimplify a little. Apple revenues basically end up in one of two places: California, for sales in the Americas; and Ireland, for sales everywhere else. Apple pays

Apple (AAPL) announced that it has increased its share repurchase authorization to $60 billion from the $10 billion level announced last year. The buyback is to take place between now and the end of 2015. The question for the investor is "What does this mean for me?"

Apple shares have seen a serious reaction since last September, when shares peaked just over $700. Recently Apple has closed at just under $400. The last two earnings reports have been disappointing as a combination of slower rate of growth and a serious falling margin level have combined to give it its first year-over-year EPS decline in over 10 years.

(click to enlarge)

All this and other factors have created a state of uncertainty that has driven investors away from the stock, and forced prices down, even as the overall market has improved significantly. Whether Apple's decision to raise the buyback

Tesla Motors, Inc (TSLA) has recently come into the spotlight due to an extraordinary stock price move following the release of its financial results for Q1, 2013. This was because Q1, 2013 was the first quarter in its history that Tesla made a profit. It also sold more than 4,750 Model S cars outpacing other luxury brands.

(click to enlarge)(Chart from BigCharts.com)

The company that Elon Musk co-founded has every reason to be celebrating these results since they are one step closer to Mr. Musk's vision. Affordable mass market electric cars that surpass in quality their conventional competitors.

According to reviews from auto magazines & sites like Car & Driver Tesla's Model S isn't just the new electric car on the block, it is a top-notch product that heartily beats its traditional gasoline & diesel competitors both in driving experience and functionality.

Due to its

Investors, or more accurately, speculators who have followed the MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ: MNKD) saga over the past several years know fully well that the end game is rapidly approaching. Wall Street research coverage has increased of late, trading volume is surging, and the stock has more than doubled in price over the past three months. The pivotal phase 3 clinical trials - Affinity 1 and Affinity 2 - that the developmental stage biotechnology company is conducting of AFREZZA is about to conclude and the recent broad-based enthusiasm clearly reflects the growing collective confidence that the inhaled insulin product could be a "major weapon" in the battle against the global diabetes pandemic, as has been suggested by the company's founder, largest stockholder, and chief executive Alfred Mann. It also may be instructive to note that during a conference call with the investment community on May 9th, Mr. Mann stated

Six reasons why the iPhone will soon have processors built by Intel:

1. Apple (AAPL) needs to have the best technology to continue to provide cutting edge products and to be able to charge the premium it has charged in the past.

2. Intel (INTC) needs to put its processors in smartphones. The smartphone market is growing rapidly.

3. Intel will make more money by building the iPhone processor than not.

4. Intel will soon have excess capacity in its fabs (semiconductor chip factories).

5. Apple will pay less per processor buying from Intel, compared to its current supplier Samsung (SSNLF.PK), or its other alternative TSMC (TSM).

6. Apple and Intel would both find strategic advantages in such a deal.

Despite the widespread belief that Intel is a microprocessor company, its distinguishing characteristic is that it is a leader in the manufacturing of integrated circuits. Intel's microprocessor design division is really just a way to ensure

After my previous article, in which I offered my opinion on the most recent weak performance of American Capital (AGNC) compared to the more positive performance of Annaly Capital (NLY), all of the stocks in the mREIT sector have continued dropping in share price, while the rest of the market keeps hitting high notes.

The reaction certainly highlights the clear risks that the sector faces when the focus is on interest rates and the comments that come from the Federal Reserve. The policies that are in place as of right now remind me of the game we used to play as kids; hot potato. A ball is tossed around as a clock ticks down to the final seconds, and whoever is holding the "hot potato" when time runs out, loses.

In the case of the agency mREIT sector, it is my observation that the company that uses

"Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful"

--Warren Buffett

A major bubble is currently inflating in investment markets. Yet nobody is talking about it. It's not that the category in question isn't getting any attention. To the contrary, it is being talked about at length nearly every day. But what is missing from the discussion is the fact that all of the signs of a massive bubble are now falling into place.

For the purpose of this article, I have taken a different approach with the analysis. Instead of introducing the investment that is showing signs of a bubble, I will be exploring the evidence first in order to avoid any behavioral biases associated with the specific investment in question.

While the bull market for this investment has been underway for nearly two years, it has only recently entered into a parabolic advance over the

There have been many discussions and speculations regarding Nokia's (NOK) patent portfolio. Over the years, the company has spent billions (more specifically, $65 billion in the last 20 years according to the company's latest annual report) of dollars for R&D activities in order to build a portfolio that is highly valuable. Currently, Nokia owns a lot of technologies that are crucial for building a mobile phone regardless of whether it's a feature phone or a smartphone. Around the world, almost every major phone company has to pay Nokia fees for the usage of its patented technologies. Without Nokia's technologies, it is nearly impossible to build a mobile phone, let alone a smartphone.

It is very difficult to value a company's patents. This is why a company's patent portfolio will not appear under "Assets" in the company's balance sheet. Also, it is difficult to look at the money spent on

It sounds trite to say, but there's never a dull moment in the land of Sirius XM (SIRI). Our recent articles, which outlined scenarios where both Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG) might be interested in the satellite radio giant, have caused quite the stir. With shares having reached a five-year high of $3.59 last week and resting at $3.54 (as of this writing), there is now notions that Sirius XM has grown too expensive. I disagree.

While we won't argue that this recent rise presents opportunities for investors to secure profits, there is ample evidence that more gains are on the way. I'm not going to sit here and pretend to know where the stock is heading - nobody really does. However, what we do know is that Sirius is operating on all cylinders. And with a few improvements along the way, $4.00

This is my first article for Seeking Alpha. I am very recently retired from an Intel (INTC) position as chip design engineer with more than 30 years of varied experience in a wide swath of technologies and companies, and I have been a part of at least six startups. I have 27 US patents to my name.

There has been a great deal of discussion, on Seeking Alpha and elsewhere, about whether or not Intel's recent failure to continue its long train of increasing sales and profits - year to year - in each quarterly report, is critical. Many proponents have taken the position that Intel's stutter is singular and reflects a temporary reduction in PC sales and/or a hiatus before new products become available for the PC market and newer growing mobility markets. Many opponents support a position that says that ARM (ARMH) has decimated Intel in the mobility

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