I’m having writer’s block this weekend.

Usually when I can’t think of what to write it helps me to go over our portfolios so I started this morning reviewing the Buy List but I didn’t get far because it was silly. Of 43 plays on the buy list, 39 are doing well - too well in fact. To the point where it’s hard for me, in good conscience, not to say let’s kill the whole thing and get back to cash as we’re up about 20% in 2 months. That’s just ridiculous - most people would call that a good year and go on vacation.

Stocks discussed on the lightning round session of Jim Cramer's Mad Money TV Program, Wednesday March 10.

Bullish Calls:

Electronic Arts (ERTS): "I have been recommending Electronic Arts, which is not down, because they bought Playfish… which is the ultimate social media game play."

Despite the increased need and demand for many broadband services, the first two months of 2010 have not been very kind to the Broadband HOLDR (BDH), which has already slumped by more than 10% on the year. This disappointing stretch comes after a superb 2009 that saw the fund post a 38% gain. Why the sudden reversal? Increased competition in the sector is partly to blame for the downturn, as the battle over market share has become an increasingly fierce competition. Another driver of the disappointing performance has been Qualcomm (QCOM), an industry leader off to a rough start this year.

Like many HOLDRS products, BDH maintains large concentrations in a handful of individual stocks. As such, unlike most diversified ETFs, these funds can be (and often are) impacted by company-specific developments at major constituents. For BDH, the largest holding is Qualcomm, which makes up a whopping 55% of the total assets. In a distant second is Corning (GLW) (14%) followed closely by Motorola (MOT) (11%). The rest of the fund is spread out among 13 other stocks.

By Bryan McCormick

US stock index futures are down moderately after a mostly negative session in Asia and a weak showing in the eurozone and UK markets. One cause for the weakness in Europe is a key business sentiment survey, The Ifo, which came in lower than expected.

(This post is part of our series on tracking hedge fund portfolios. If you're unfamiliar with tracking investments they disclose via SEC filings, check out our series preface on hedge fund 13F filings.)

Next up is Lee Ainslie's hedge fund Maverick Capital. Maverick focuses on intensive fundamental research to identify positions on both the long and short side of the portfolio, but they do not employ pairs trades. Positions typically do not exceed 5-8% of the portfolio as Ainslie's big focus is on risk management. Maverick looks at enterprise value to sustainable free cash flow and their analytical team is segmented by sector.

To many, the significant rebound in global equity markets, since the March 2009 price lows, has merely been a dead-cat bounce or simply a temporary “sugar high” from the extraordinary fiscal and monetary measures taken by governments all over the world. John Authers, columnist at the Financial Times, captures that cycnical view in his daily column. He believes we are on the cusp of financial dynamics that will “drive a bear market for another two decades.” Ouch – pretty harsh outlook.

Perception Can Differ from Reality

Sentiment

Disappointing economic data and credit worries in Europe conspired to send stock market averages sharply lower Thursday. The table was set for early weakness after the Labor Department reported that filings for jobless benefits increased by 8,000 to 480,000 in the week ended January 30. Economists were expecting a decline of about 15,000. The numbers held more sway than usual because today's poor numbers come one day before the Labor Department released key data. Economists expect Friday's report to show the economy adding 13,000 jobs in the first month of 2010.

Meanwhile, benchmarks were broadly lower in Europe amid anxiety about widening credits spreads in Spain, Greece and Portugal. Spain's IBEX plummeted nearly 6 percent.

This column originally appeared in Forbes.

Although Google's (GOOG) declaration that it is no longer willing to censor searches in China gets all the headlines, another American giant, Goldman Sachs (GS), is locked in its own battle there. When oil prices were soaring, Shenzhen Nanshan Power signed oil derivatives contracts with Goldman's commodities-trading subsidiary, J. Aron, to help it hedge against rising prices. When oil prices plummeted last year, Nanshan's bets went south. Nanshan is now refusing to pay the $80 million it owes, because it says the contracts were signed by officials who didn't have signing authority.

Q4 2009 Earnings Call

January 26, 2010 8:30 am ET

• TARP watchdog to probe NY Fed over AIG. According to prepared testimony, TARP Special Inspector Neil Barofsky launched two new investigations into the New York Federal Reserve's actions during AIG's (AIG) bailout. Barofsky will look at whether there was any misconduct related to the public disclosure of the $62.1B paid to counterparties, and will also investigate the NY Fed's level of cooperation with a previous audit of the counterparty payments. In a further development, Geithner, who was head of the NY Fed at the time of AIG's bailout, has said counterparties weren't a consideration in structuring AIG's rescue. However, emails have subsequently shown that counterparties were indeed discussed, and buying out banks' AIG contracts was deemed better "from a financial-stability perspective" than other AIG rescue options being considered.
• AIG holds onto ILFC unit. AIG (AIG) has decided not to sell its aircraft-leasing unit, International Lease Finance Corp., after concluding the potential profit wouldn't justify the sale of such a key asset. AIG will now have to continue funding the unit's large balance sheet either through cash or new debt-financing while it also works to repay billions of dollars in federal bailout funds. It's unclear whether AIG's decision is connected to reports that Steven Udvar-Hazy, a founder and CEO of ILFC, is planning on leaving the company this week.
• Merger approved for Live Nation, Ticketmaster. The Justice Department approved the merger of Live Nation (LYV) and Ticketmaster (TKTM), on the condition that Ticketmaster sells its Paciolan unit to a unit of Comcast (CMCSA), that the combined company licenses its primary ticketing software and that it doesn't retaliate against venues that use another provider. The new Live Nation Entertainment will own more than 140 concert venues across the world, and will sell roughly 140M tickets per year to 22,000 concerts. The news sent shares climbing yesterday, with LYV closing up 14.7% and TKTM +15.8%.
• U.K. exits recession. The U.K. emerged from recession, barely, reporting GDP growth (.pdf) of 0.1% in Q4 2009 vs. the previous quarter. However, the growth rate was far less than the +0.4% expected and has raised concerns that the economy could fall back into contraction.
• Japan outlook turns negative. Earlier this morning, S&P revised its outlook on Japan to "negative" from "stable," potentially putting at risk Japan's AA long-term rating. The ratings firm cited concerns over "the Japanese government's diminishing economic policy flexibility" and over growing "fiscal and deflationary pressures." Japan's government debt is already among the highest for rated sovereigns, and S&P thinks the debt burden will continue to rise, peaking at 115% of GDP over the next few years. Moody’s and Fitch Ratings kept their grades unchanged today, calling Japan's debt burden 'relatively moderate' and expressing confidence that "the market will finance this without putting big upward pressure on yields."
• Deal will create massive printer firm. Privately held Quad/Graphics Inc. is expected to buy Canadian rival World Color Press for $1.3-1.4B, creating the second-largest commercial printer in North America and posing a threat to industry giant R.R. Donnelley & Sons (RRD). Sources said the firms hope to close the deal this summer, and estimate combined 2010 earnings would be around $875M.
• Fed mulls new benchmark rate. Federal Reserve officials begin a two-day FOMC meeting today, and one of the items on the agenda is whether to adopt a new benchmark interest rate to replace the one that's been used for the last two decades. Instead of the federal funds rate, officials may choose to use the interest paid on excess bank reserves.
• Porsche sued by VW short sellers. Porsche is being sued by short sellers of Volkswagen (VLKAY.PK) stock. The group of short sellers claim that Porsche misled investors by denying it planned to acquire Volkswagen and by using manipulative trades to hide its stock positions, and then sent the stock rocketing as short sellers tried to cover their positions. The plaintiffs are seeking to recover more than $1B in damages.
• White House aims for stimulus, and reduced spending. Gearing up for the State of the Union address tomorrow, the White House released details on a series of initiatives meant to help middle-class families, including a set of tax credits and an automated-IRA system for workplaces. Obama also proposed a three-year freeze on domestic spending accounting for one-sixth of the federal budget. The freeze would save $250B by 2020. In addition, Democratic lawmakers are considering an $80B jobs-stimulus package that would provide tax credits to small and medium-sized businesses that hire workers.
• Apple's healthy earnings beat. Apple (AAPL) posted better-than-expected quarterly results (see details below), buoyed by strong sales across most of its product lines. However, Apple's results were also helped by new accounting rules allowing the firm to recognize all the revenue for iPhone sales at the time the devices are sold, rather than having to defer that revenue over 24 months. (Read Apple's earnings call transcript)
• GM's Whitacre chooses himself for CEO. Edward Whitacre, chairman and interim CEO of General Motors, said he will assume the position of permanent chief executive. Whitacre said staying on as CEO hadn't been his original intention but that the firm needs stability and he felt increasingly comfortable in the job. Separately, GM acknowledged it held advanced talks with Spyker Cars, but said it's still moving forward with plans to wind down its Saab unit.
• China raises select reserve ratios. Asian markets traded heavily down (see details below) following reports that China moved forward today with a planned increase in required reserves for some of its banks. Some banks were also told to suspend new lending for the rest of the month. In another move that surprised markets, the central bank left yields unchanged in its closely watched one-year bill sale, though analysts think this is just a pause in tightening policy and not a reversal.
• More cyber-attacks. A Chinese human-rights group said it and four other advocacy and news organizations were targeted in cyber-attacks over the weekend. The group said that the hackers were "of unknown origin" but hinted the Chinese government might be to blame.
• Goldman caps U.K. pay. Goldman Sachs (GS) is capping compensation at £1M ($1.6M) for the company's partners in London, in response to the one-time 50% bonus tax announced by U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown last month. Most other firms subject to the tax are spreading the penalty out across a wider swathe of employees, sometimes across their entire workforces.
• Home sales drop. Existing Home Sales fell 16.7% to 5.45M in December, vs. expectations of 5.78M. The supply of homes rose to 7.2 months. NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said there were no surprises in the data, but noted that although "sales are on track to rise again in 2010," the labor market "remains a concern and could dampen the housing recovery – job creation is key to a continued recovery in the second half of the year.”

Earnings: Tuesday Before Open

• Baker Hughes (BHI): Q4 EPS of $0.43 beats by $0.08. Revenue of $2.4B (-24%) vs. $2.3B. (PR)
• Corning (GLW): Q4 EPS of $0.44 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $1.5B (+41%) vs. $1.4B. (PR)
• DuPont (DD): Q4 EPS of $0.44 beats by $0.03. Revenue of $6.4B (+10%) vs. $6.1B. (PR)
• MGIC Investment (MTG): Q4 EPS of -$2.25 beats by $1.1. Revenue of $406M (-2%) vs. $394M. (PR)
• Regions Financial (RF): Q4 EPS of -$0.51 misses by $0.17. (PR)
• Tellabs (TLAB): Q4 EPS of $0.09 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $389M (-5%) in-line. (PR)
• Travellers (TRV): Q4 EPS of $2.12 beats by $0.63. Revenue of $6.4B (+11%) vs. $5.2B. (PR)
• Weatherford International (WFT): Q4 EPS of $0.02 misses by $0.09. Revenue of $2.4B (-8%) vs. $2.3B. (PR)

Earnings: Monday After Close

• Amgen (AMGN): Q4 EPS of $1.05 misses by $0.08. Revenue of $3.8B (+2%) vs. $3.85B. Expects fiscal 2010 capex of about $600M. (PR)
• Apple (AAPL): FQ1 EPS of $3.67 beats by $1.60. The company elected to adopt required accounting standards changes related to revenue recognition, retrospectively. Revenue of $15.7B (+32%) vs. $12B. Sees Q2 EPS of $2.06-2.18 vs. $1.77, on sales of $11B-11.4B vs. $10.4B. Gross margin of 40.9% vs. year-ago 37.9%. Sold 3.36M Macintosh computers, up 33% from year ago. Sold 8.7M iPhones, up 100% from year prior. Sold 21M iPods, an 8% decline. (10-Q, PR)
• Atheros Communications (ATHR): Q4 EPS of $0.62 beats by $0.09. Revenue of $186M (+89%) vs. $175M. (PR)
• Olin (OLN): Q4 EPS of $0.28 may not be comparable to estimates of -$0.05. Net income of $21.8M incorporates $37M of pretax recoveries of environmental costs expensed in prior periods and $1.2M pretax gain from sale of a manufacturing facility. Revenue of $351M (-19%) vs. $330M. (PR)
• Packaging Corp. of America (PKG): Q4 EPS of $0.16 beats by $0.03. Revenue of $532M (-3%) vs. $510M. Sees Q1 EPS of $0.12 vs. $0.17. (PR)
• SL Green Realty (SLG): Q4 FFO of $0.87 misses by $0.01. Revenue of $247M (-8%) vs. $239M. (PR)
• Texas Instruments (TXN): Q4 EPS of $0.52 beats by $0.03. Revenue of $3B (+21%) in-line. Expects Q1 EPS of $0.44-0.52 vs. $0.43, on revenues of $2.95B-3.19B vs. $2.83B. (PR)
• VMware (VMW): Q4 EPS of $0.31 beats by $0.05. Revenue of $608M (+18%) vs. $554M. Sees Q1 revenue of $580M-600M vs. $530M. (PR)
• Zions Bancorp (ZION): Q4 EPS of -$1.26 beats by $0.38. Net interest income of $457M (-10%). Net loan charge-offs of $292.1M vs. $381.3M in Q3. (PR)

Today's Markets

• In Asia, Nikkei -1.8% to 10,325. Hang Seng -2.4% to 20,109. Shanghai -2.4% to 3,019. BSE closed.
• In Europe at midday, London -0.5%. Paris -0.6%. Frankfurt -0.4%.
• Futures: Dow -0.4%. S&P -0.55%. Nasdaq -0.2%. Crude -1% to $74.49. Gold flat at $1,095.20.

Tuesday's Economic Calendar

• FOMC Meeting, Day 1
  7:45 ICSC Retail Store Sales
  8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
  9:00 S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index
  10:00 Consumer Confidence
  10:00 FHFA Housing Price Index
  10:00 State Street Investor Confidence Index
  10:00 Richmond Fed Mfg.
  5:00 PM ABC Consumer Confidence Index
• Notable earnings before Tuesday's open: ABC, BHI, CVG, CBE, GLW, DAL, DD, EMC, FPL, JNJ, MHP, MTG, NVS, NUE, BTU, RF, SHW, TLAB, TRV, X, VZ, WFT
• Notable earnings after Tuesday's close: ALTR, BXP, CNI, ELY, GILD, IDTI, MCK, MOLX, PTV, QLGC, RFMD, STLD, STM, SYK, TSFG, YHOO

Seeking Alpha editors Eli Hoffmann and Jason Aycock contributed to this post.

Bernanke and the crew will get started bright and early behind the collasal locked mohagany doors of the FOMC board room Tuesday morning, while traders will ernestly focus on the information at hand.

A slew of earnings from Ashland (ASH) (0.71 EPS est.), Corning (GLW) (0.42 EPS est.), Delta Airlines (DAL) (-0.24 EPS est), DuPont (DD) (0.41 EPS est.), and Sherwin Williams (SHW) (0.52 EPS est.) will keep pre-market traders on their toes. ASH will provding insight into managers' expectations of crude oil price strength, based on announcements of layoffs, the effects of an extremely narrow crack spread, and greatly reduced capacity, on the bottom line of this East coast industry player.

So what’s with the selling?

Readers familiar with our methods know how much we scoff at over-analysis and excessive technical scrutiny. Simply put, the market sold off last week because more investors were eager to flee holdings than buy them. Given the rise of sell-volume over the past month we had plenty of warning here. Volume usually precludes price action. We hoisted our Red Flag Sell Bias to adjust for Distribution Days, where volume comes in higher than the previous day. It happened a total of four times on the Nasdaq and Dow over the last month. With the S&P 500 it happened three times. These Distribution Days tell us that institutions are unloading their positions. When we collect a string of them it’s time to look out.

Stocks discussed on the in-depth session of Jim Cramer's Mad Money TV Program, Friday January 22.

Thousand Point Obama Correction: Apple (AAPL), Corning (GLW), EMC (EMC), Nucor (NUE), Johnson&Johnson (JNJ), Boeing (BA), Caterpillar (CAT), 3M (MMM) AT&T (T), Verizon (VZ), Colgate-Palmolive (CL), Procter&Gamble (PG), Amazon (AMZN)

Orbotech Ltd. (ORBK) disclosed Thursday at the annual Needham & Company Growth Conference that its goal is to double the number of direct imaging units it installs in 2010 as compared to 2009. While the direct imaging units are not their largest product line, this is one of a number of recent encouraging signs for ORBK.

The company manufactures equipment used in the manufacturing process for FPD (flat panel displays) and is well positioned to participate profitably as the industry moves up to the next level. Shares closed Thursday at 9.03. Shlomi Cohen follows Israeli tech and has written about the company several times, making a bullish case. The most recent presentation (from the company's website) is useful.

Stocks discussed on the lightning round session of Jim Cramer's Mad Money TV Program, Monday, January 11.

Bullish Calls

Teva (TEVA): "...has the best generic and has proprietary, in other words prescription drugs?… I think you swap out of Mylan and get into Teva, even though it was at its 52 week high today… "

Glass substrate maker Corning Inc. (GLW) is looking increasingly appealing to analysts, with Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank both issuing upgrades today based on improved prospects for the LCD television market.

Back on Dec 8 Davenport & Co analyst F. Drake Johnstone cut his rating on Corning to “Neutral” from “Buy” on a valuation basis. He worried that consumer demand for LCD televisions could wane in the first quarter after the holiday buying surge.

Back in January 2009, I posted a list of my top ten stock picks for 2009.
The original article can be found here.

Start prices are January 1, 2009 and end prices are from December 31, 2009.
The results and recommendations can be found below: