Daniel DeLay

Citi Gets Downgraded, But Ambac May Come to the Rescue

Oppenheimer had similar things to say about Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) last sept. when the stock was trading at 65,00. Saying the acquisition of nybot was a huge mistake. I can go on about oppenheimer and their gift for fiction.

Citigroup's Cannibalization Policy

PS: We just bought 7 Million shares in the past 30 days.

Citigroup's Cannibalization Policy

What kind of a bear are you anyway ? Sounds like a grizzly, short on Citigroup.

IPhone Screen May Develop Dead Spots -- Analyst

Projected Capacitive touchscreens, which is the system the iPhone screen most closely resembles, is the most rugged available and as such is suitable for all public-access and industrial type applications.

A fine grid of wires is embedded onto the rear of the screen which generates an electric field. The controller is built onto one edge of the screen and draws it's power from the serial port. A touch to the front draws current towards the finger and the software calculates the touch position.

As the touchscreen is laminated with a piece of plain, toughened glass on the front this is simple to seal to very high IP ratings and is the most impervious to damage. Even when the glass is scratched or damaged the touchscreen will still operate.

The touchscreen can be calibrated also to operate different distances from the rear wire grid, known as sense/drive lines, it can be calibrated to be sensitive enough to read a touch through gloves.

If there were "dead spots" the most likely cause would be a failure of the multiplexer to be able to calculate the distance to the field activation. This effect would most likely be the result of a failure within the matrix of embedded wires generating the electric field. If this problem existed it would most likely of existed from the onset of the sale of the device. The users experiencing this, most likely recently bought their phones. One thing is without question though, this has nothing to do with heat.
My final comment is the technology is well proven, has a history of reliability and eveyone using an ATM has been using similar tech for years.

PS: Hospitals have been using the same for years so if you are concerned about the iPhone screen, don't go to a hospital either. Did I hear someone say the LG Prada uses touchscreens.

Don't Let the Housing Spinmeisters Mislead You

Your comments are correct. I looked at Barry's comments in the sense that the media was saying housing starts were up 5.9%. They never mentioned the actual confidence interval until the very end of the article and even then, it was only mentioned that it was large. They also provided a link to the actual report. As if everyone will double check, not. I believe Barry's point was, with an actual range of down 3% to up 14.8% with the median being up 5.9%, the media tends to focus on the median and base their entire story on that median. To do so is deceptive although I will admit if they focused on the actual interval of numbers there would be no story at all. However, since they do focus on that number as being REALISTIC their focus is deceptive. Thus, they mislead investors by skewing results to fit their story. one ex. of many: MarketWatch, www.marketwatch.com/Ne...;siteid=mktw&g...

Feedback on the Chinese Bubble -- A Point-by-Point Refutation

I believe the PBC has a economic target to sustain relatively high growth, see quoted area in next paragraph, and maintain inflation through control of the RMB. They have given no indication of any other agenda. For writers to continue to project their opinions is short sighted and some are gifted when it comes to fiction.

On March 17, the Monetary Policy Committee of the People's Bank of China held its first quarterly meeting of 2006. The Committee agreed that the economy had maintained the steady and relatively fast growth momentum witnessed since 2005, with the performance of the financial sector remaining sound, the new RMB exchange rate regime functioning smoothly, and the RMB exchange rate remaining basically stable at an adaptive and equilibrium level. The Committee conducted an in-depth analysis of the current economic and financial situation both at home and abroad, and agreed to continue strengthening and improving macro adjustments to "ensure sound and relatively fast economic growth and price stability." The Committee agreed to continue the sound monetary policy with proper attention paid to taking preemptive and fine-tuning measures while maintaining consistency and stability in aggregate terms. (see following link for entire article )

www.pbc.gov.cn/english...;ID=690&keywor...


Quarter two monetary policy see next link:

www.pbc.gov.cn/english...;id=732

for a complete monetary policy stmt see next link:

www.pbc.gov.cn/english...;ID=34

Housing Weakness Poses a Significant Threat to GDP and Stocks

I tend to agree with the soft landing scenario for the following reasons. First as oil prices fall inflation will subside. In fact if they continue to fall through next summer we will be looking at negative overall inflation due to the comps. It may appear to be deflation, but not really. As the inflation situation tames so will the FED with the rates and once they begin lowering rates and the market will recover. Next, everyone acts as though housing has gone in the toilet, not true, this is the third best year for housing in the history of the country. I will agree growth rates have fallen sharply, however, we are already seeing the steps being implemented by major builders to allow the excess homes to be bought up. I would also argue that, in the event, their is a trend of rising defaults, as you are suggesting, the group of 12 fed banks will recognize this and drop rates based on that alone. This is not a new situation, the housing market is cyclical, in this case we are a somewhat overbuilt more so than in the past so it will take a bit longer to work through existing inventories. Buyers are sitting on the sidelines waiting for the best deal out there, rates to drop, etc. When the market does find it's bottom all the buyers will step in at once and another housing boom will begin. Its not a matter of if housing demand will come back, it is more of matter of when demand will return. My opinion is, demand will jump before this time next year. But then again, I am not like the analyst that know all and can predict the future, I can honestly say I am just guessing.

Three Views of the Housing Market and Homebuilder Stocks

>>&g... Tilson submits: One of my wise friends

What's The Real Cause of Housing Softness?

Very clean presentation of current housing and potential outcomes.

One of the best this year. Thanks- Dan