mkreisel

Geithner's Plan for Bad Assets: Part of a Master Program

Yeah, that's why you see so many 0-5% down payments on houses.

Some of these guys actually bought much cheaper new homes, while "returning" those expensive old homes back to the banks.

We call these loans "non recourse loans".

AIG Bonuses Are Just the Tip of the Iceberg

We don't have to do it the Stalin way, it's bad PR.

A much better way would be to put personal information of anyone who dares to take that bonus on the web.

Nationalization: What Does Treasury Really Think?

Actually, I like the way the Treasury is NOT handing out blank checks to banks.

Dividend Stocks: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

PFE's panic bid for WYE just shows that its management is a bunch of capital destroyers and its pipeline is utter crap.

What to Buy and Why: Barron's 2009 Roundtable, Part II

Since they all bashed US Treasuries, I would think that Treasuries is the place to be.

As for equities and corporate bonds, please wait at least until the current earning season is over. Then we shall have a better idea about who's holding up well and who's not.

I personally want to know what Buffett had done during the last quarter of 2008. The answer comes out on the first Friday of March.

Credit Markets Take a Beating

Every time when banks report earnings, something ugly come out and new bandages from the central banks have to stuff the bleeding.

For equity markets, the pattern is break down before nasty news, consolidate and sucker rally on soothing stimulus, and off to the next round.

Citigroup's Derivatives Reduce Bailout to a Non-Event

So far the only idiot in town who failed to hedge its derivatives properly is AIG. Big banks such as BAC, C, JPM, WFC all seem to have equal derivative assets as liabilities.

Berkshire Hathaway also has about $10 billion worth of credit default swaps as pure liabilities, but Buffett has almost $30 billion in cash, and he got $4 billion premium for selling $10 billion of insurance in the first place.

JPMorgan Chase: Poisoned by Bear's 5,000 Counterparties

"It takes a thief to catch thieves"

AIG seems to be the only idiot in town that has sold a bunch of CDS without any hedging whatsoever.

Berkshire Hathaway also sold a few CDS, but they number only about $8 billion in notional value and Buffett got paid roughly $4 billion upfront.

Bank Insiders Made Out Like Bandits

And how about those morons at WB who bought tons of their own stocks in Nov 2007?

Of course, AEO boss Schottenstein bought a bunch in Sep 2007. Look how deep under water he already is.

The guy at CWTR has better timing, sold a lot at 30 and bought back a lot at 5. The stock is at 6 right now.

GOOG insiders have been selling like there is no tomorrow ever since Jan 2005. Should you ignore the stock or even go short it back then?

Bank Insiders Made Out Like Bandits

Why not do the same analysis for AAPL, AMZN, BRCM, CSCO, EBAY, FSLR, GOOG, INTC, MSFT, QCOM, XOM, and YHOO?

Let me tell you something: insiders at WFC aren't selling much at all, at least a lot less than those insiders at railroad companies, which were heavily pumped by Barron's a couple of weeks ago.

Time To Start Buying Some Dogs?

Buy what retails are bashing and sell what they are chasing.

They are always wrong, given 3-6 months time.

Credit Cards: The Next Subprime?

I exclusively use credit cards for my purchases, and I always pay my balances in full.

Credit cards offer a convenient way to organize my bills, track my spendings, and a great protection from fraudulent merchants.

If you shop online, credit cards is pretty much the ONLY way to buy anything. If you travel to foreign countries, Visa and Mastercard offer way BETTER exchange rates than those rip-off banks.

It's actually far safer to make purchases with credit cards than with cash. They have become very good at detecting anomalies. Once I bought something in China, and I got a call from them a day later. Now if you give cash to the wrong person, it's gone forever.

Dividend Aristocrats: Top Dividend Growers

USB has no subprime exposure. I think Buffett bought $2 billion of it in 2007.

PFE has a lousy pipeline, but it also has $22 billion in cash and there are tons of depressed biotech stocks out there.

These Stocks Are Attractive Amidst This Selloff

Posco is a Korean integrated steel maker. If you get this simple basic fact wrong, that basically tells people what kind of "investment capitalist" you are.