dtrader

Federal Express Worth 25 P/E? I Don't Get It

Greg I'll pose a question to you, if you think FDX is so out of line why are you not short the stock? ...and since your not short the stock I guess you can not think the valuation is really that out of line.

GM expects Volt to get at least 230 mpg for city driving, more than four times the mileage of Toyota's (TM) hybrid Prius. "EPA labels are a yardstick for customers to compare the fuel efficiency of vehicles. So, a vehicle like the Volt that achieves a composite triple-digit fuel economy is a game-changer," CEO Fritz Henderson says.

The gasoline engine is going to be used to charge the batteries. The Volt will only run for about 40 miles without needing a battery charge and the gasoline engine will allow the car to charge the batteries until you can plug in.


On Aug 11 09:41 AM coloneldebugger wrote:

> the volt also has a gasoline engine. it's not a pure electric car,
> just a plug in hybrid.

GM expects Volt to get at least 230 mpg for city driving, more than four times the mileage of Toyota's (TM) hybrid Prius. "EPA labels are a yardstick for customers to compare the fuel efficiency of vehicles. So, a vehicle like the Volt that achieves a composite triple-digit fuel economy is a game-changer," CEO Fritz Henderson says.

Pretty good except the Volt is an electric car.

One should be comparing the total cost of owning and operating a Volt vs whatever...

Amazon Goes Shopping, Zappos Is a Good Fit

If Jeff Bezos is able to act like Warren Buffett when he buy's businesses than this might be a good acquisition. The two major if's are the current management and if this creative group gets restless and begins leaving to pursue new challenges. Second, Amazon not having the experience and background to oversea the nuances and intricacies of a footwear business in an industry that can be very fickle when Zappos loses some of it's magic.

Time will tell.

Schrodinger's Mark-to-Market Law of Dead Cats

Is a glass half empty or half full? If your heart stops and then you are revived 5 minutes later were you dead, alive or both? Schrodinger was a renowned scientist but he really shouldn't be given credit for a new scientific discovery which is probably more an issue on how we define things.

Changing mark to the mark is probably like going back to the future but in reverse forward to the past.

Sorry I don't have the time to discuss my perspective on mark to the mark right now but some of us actually still have a job thank God and I better not be late. Maybe I'll be able to find some time later to make some comments.

Leveraged ETFs: Handle with Care

Kevin...the ultra 2x and 3x ETFs are at least misleading and at worst fraudulent. You are doing a disservice to the public if you allow yourself to just buy into their explanation and accept that as being ok. As such you are just condoning how Proshares and others mislead the public can produce products that are so disingenuous. It you or I did did something like this we would be immediately arrested . Even your website seeking alpha doesn't get it and as such is helping to perpetrate this misrepresentation in the marketplace. Here's how Seeking Alpha describes the objective of these ETF's.

"What Are They?

Like many traditional index ETFs, leveraged market cap ETFs offer a simple way to get exposure to broad US market indexes, in this case defined by market cap (small cap, midcap or large cap stocks).
But unlike traditional index ETFs, these ETFs provide double the performance of a traditional index. So if the S&P 500 rises by 1%, for example, the ProShares Ultra S&P500 ETF (SSO) would rise by 2%.
Leveraged ETFs are able to do this by using by options and futures contracts. Because futures provide leverage (more exposure than the actual cash invested), ETFs that use futures contracts have uninvested cash, which they usually park in interest-bearing bonds. The interest on the bonds is used to cover the expenses of the ETF and to pay dividends to the holders."


No mention that after one day ProShares and the others say all bets are off on 2x and 3x ETF's and that the deviation from the 2x and 3x can be as much 40% to 50% within several months. This charade shouldn't be allowed to go on with the public unknowingly getting into something that will be very costly for them after a short period of time.

Kevin you should be going after ProShares and others and not be giving them a free pass. If they can actually put out a product that is 2x and 3x these indices I love it but as this is it is not and is dangerous because it is not what people think it is.

Of course if this is allowed I propose you and I start a 10x ETF that tucks away in a disclaimer somewhere this is only valid on Tuesday's and Thursdays between 12:00 and 12:15 if there is a full moon.

AIG: An Attractive Buy, If...

Not so quick...AIG has gotten itself into a horrendous mess and just because the gov't has advanced them enough money to keep them afloat for now doesn't mean this company can pay off it's debt and resurrect itself again as a substantial insurance company.

Why? For one reason I am skeptical that the non-insurance assets that they want to sell to pay off their losses in CDO's and the loans from the gov't will not be enough. This would lead to the selling of their prize assets that u r relying on in ur argument to resurrect AIG as a viable insurance entity.

U have seemed to buy into managements argument which on the surface can be a compelling story. The trouble is that new management is trying to put a positive spin on their actions to right the ship which is predictable but not always as accurate as they would have one believe.

U and I really do not have the access to see inside this company to see how deep their money problems go. It is possible that management itself still cannot figure it out so I'm not so sure u should be painting a rosy picture at the end of the tunnel until it is clearer on how deep their financial problems go.

Another indicator is that all private equity that could buy AIG as a whole if they believed what you do have shown no interest in the firm as a whole just cherry picking some of better assets at fire sale prices.

Good luck with ur speculation but my instinct tells me to wait until I see more evidence that those insurance assets will be there in the longer run.

Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

axel...just a quick comment, Warren Buffet just made a deal where he has as one part the option to buy $5 billion of common shares of Goldman Sachs at $115. I guess he's been taking classes...

Honestly I know he made that comment but the context was probably in reference to the CDO's etc.

As long as ur long options the only risk u run is the premium u paid. That gives them less risk or at least a known fixed maximum risk before u enter a position.

Naked short options pose a high risk where u can loss more than u have in ur account.

People who want to short options can use credit spreads to protect their positions and risk.

AIG Downgrades Should Create an Endgame

Sliman...I bought some cheap OTM Sept options yesterday but 4 the most part i'm not interested in playing the market this way. It was more 4 fun than a gamble to make a killing if AIG finds the capital and the stock jumps up

AIG Downgrades Should Create an Endgame

Tom...The new use of mark to the market accounting on the assets of these financial institutions has probably been a major contributing factor to the rapid disintegration of the valuing of these companies.

The ineptitude of the CEO's and the Board of Directors should also be looked into. Some of it borders criminal if u ask me.

AIG Downgrades Should Create an Endgame

Gabe..with all do respect the short rule is like a fly in ointment with this systemic meltdown. If by the short rule u r referring to threshold securities then I also do not understand why AIG and LEH were not put on this list as was done by the SEC with ABK and MBI. That does help to slow or stop the panic short selling when there is a major crisis occuring. I also agree that there should be no naked short selling allowed. The uptick rule is another story and actually is not good for the market.

But I didn't want to get hung up talking about short rules when today the the country will be facing a financial catastrophy of unkown proportions that could bring our financial systems and the worlds to a halt if no solution is found today and AIG declares bankrupcy on Wednesday. The $75 billion AIG is looking for as a bridge loan is just small potatos if AIG goes into bankrupcy and their credit rating is downgraded again forcing trillions of dollars of swaps held by AIG to be unwound and virtually bringing the financial system to a halt.

Kinda sounds like the day the world stood still. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

Should be an interesting next couple of days.

Political Energy Policy Just for Laughs

I too have become interested in the NGV (Natural Gas Vehicles) as the best and quickest way to begin to free America from this foreign oil dependence and to help stop this endless debt that could eventually destroy the framework of our country.

I am astonished that NGV's are not discussed more about the potential impact it could have with a minimal effort and work on our consumption of oil.

Sure there are many things to be discussed about the best ways to implement everything but the technology is ready now and is being used in a small scale in this country and around the world but would have a very substantial impact for individuals and the country if we got together and did this on a large scale.

First, I think the country needs to become informed about what NGV's are all about and how this could be the simplest, most effective and quickest way to change our gasoline consumption and save money too!

Hopefully the media, a celebrity, the government, business or maybe even the politicans in this election will be start to make some noise about the potential with this and lets see if Americans want to show oil
we no longer have to be at their mercy.

Here's one hyperlink I found informative about NGV's from Canada, there are more just need to do some internet searches.

www.uniongas.com/about...

Friday Outlook: Commodities, Emerging Markets

Grow up David...

BTW the the gas/oil crisis was in '73 and '74

Friday Outlook: Commodities, Emerging Markets

David, a poor choice of individuals to quote from and claim he was prophetic. In '74 the country was in the crux of a gas/oil crisis with the Middle East and it wasn't particularly prophetic or enlightening all you had to do was ask any Joe Q citizen in the street and he would have told u as much also. These problems were well known way before those times too it just becomes headline news when matters become extreme like currently and then.

Anyway, I agree with u just not the quote or the use of it.

I just hope in the future i don't read articles with u quoting Bushisms and saying how prophetic he was....

Regards...