ZagnZig

Gold, Green and the Fate of the Dollar

Hi Lara Crigger,

Thanks for sharing your info and providing the lead - I will research some of the juniors !

Thanks for sharing,

Gold, Green and the Fate of the Dollar

Has anyone researched which of the junior miners are going to be the best-performing? What are the most important selection criteria?

Interesting quotes:
“spectacular gains to be had in the smaller silver miners if you choose wisely”

“the precious metals junior miners are going to be one of the best-performing sectors in the next few years. Silver miners ought to be just spectacular.”

Thanks in advance !

Risks Abound at UBS

Totally incorrect - UBS does not trade above its peers - it does not! The price-to-book of UBS is exactly even to peers - using Swiss francs currency. You are comparing CHF to US$! You wrote:"UBS trades at a 105% premium to its peers' average price-to-book multiple (P/B), and a 18% premium to the group's average price-to-earnings multiple (P/E) for 2009."

UBS is backed by the full faith of the Swiss Govt - they created a toxic fund to remove the bad loans from UBS balance sheet. The bank is profitable qrt-over-qrt and in fact has one of the best franchise values in banking. UBS is the only bank to have cracked the CHINA banking and is considered a must have with the Chinese. Now is the time to buy UBS - you will double your money in 1 year.

Get your facts straight!

Fannie and Freddie: Rising to Big Cash or Another Fake?

Wow - I shorted FNM with every dime I could get the friday before nationalization - sure the common were wiped out....


On Aug 29 10:54 AM ArchDukeFerdinand wrote:

> The common shareholders of FRE and FNM will not fail. Why? The FDIC
> has
now
> explicitly guarantee the debt of FRE and FNM. The GSE managements
can
> issue debt whenever a contingency requires it.

Smithfield Foods: Recent Slide Offers Meaty Buying Opportunity

Man - my heart feels for you - I did exactly the opposite and shorted FNM the Friday before they nationalized...


On Sep 28 09:06 AM PeteK wrote:

> Last friday, sold everything, and loaded up with AIG shares.
> Like cutting a big tree with a steak knife but it can be done.

Added Debt Won't Rescue the Great American Ponzi Scheme

He writes: “Consequently, solutions to date have not only failed to “fix” anything, they have made the problem worse.” How obviously wrong can anyone be? People, please do not forget the consequences and the scale of the crisis.

Imagine the “solution” this author proposes: C, BAC, WFC, MS, AIG, FNM, FRE, JPM…all failing? What sort of solution would that be? Any suggestion that letting them fail would be better than our current predicament is nonsense! What grocery store would remain; would you still have your job? How would you feed your family or keep them warm?

Violent civil unrest would ensue. The nation would be blown to pieces.

Reading the comments here makes me wonder if the people who think bank failures are the cure are not honestly considering the final consequences of their decisions.

What Is Going On With Gold?

Paultaut mistates:
EU Petrol, (Ex-Taxes) is NOT anywhere near the prices in the USA.
US Petrol, (Ex-Taxes) is 4 times cheaper.
CH Petrol, (Ex-Taxes) is 3.2 times cheaper than EU prices.
(I live in Switzerland and compare frequently ! )
But Paultaut is correct: Petrol Tax represents more than 65% of sales price!

On Jan 08 11:50 PM Paultaut wrote:

>PS Petrol in Europe, Ex-Taxes, costs about the same as it does in
the USA. The Europeans made a decision a long time ago to force their
citizens to use more efficient, higher mileage cars. I do not know what
the tax rate is currently but imagine it is still more than 50%.

Smithfield Foods: Recent Slide Offers Meaty Buying Opportunity

What are you talking about?
On September 28, 2008 You wrote: "The shares present downside risk of about $4, but upside potential nearing $12, providing a juicy 3.0 risk reward ratio."
After yesterdays -777 pt. crash, SFD trades at $14.36! COME ON!

U.S. Financial Crisis a Boon For Japanese Banks

"For many years, banks such as Mizuho Financial (MFG), Mitsubishi UFJ (MTG) ..."

Neither of these ticker symbols are accurate. How does an investor in US exchanges participate?
Thanks

5 Things You Can Bet on Following the Treasury's Plan

Thanks to all who have posted interesting points. I live in Switzerland next to the BIS and whose citizens are very proud of their “safe-haven” status currency. But I have serious questions about reserve currency comments, much as “Smarty_Pants” suggests: “China, Japan, and the Arab states decide to 'diversify' to other currencies as their major reserve” –

But that misses the whole point of the function of a reserve currency. In any and all events, the world MUST have a reserve currency. No? Therefore, many people are commenting about possible ‘diversification alternatives’. But there are no alternatives – and none in the offering in the next decade.

Which currency do you think would arise as a “major reserve” ?
THIS WEEK the worlds central banks desperately needed extra reserves.

Whether you agree or not about the propriety of such actions. consider the $ allocation in last 5 days,
ECB $110B
CHF $27B
GB $40B
CAN $10B
JPN $60B
USA $55B and another $30B to AUS and the Scando countries today.

The point is, there is simply no other currency which could possibly match these amounts to bolster the “reserves” of other central banks. The $ is the reserve by the very fact that it is so readily available and accessible.

The ultimate function of any reserve currency is utility and expedience. It is not necessary any preconceived “value” of that currency in relation to another currency or commodity.

Am I crazy? I am American and deeply sadden by our current problems.

Fannie and Freddie: Rising to Big Cash or Another Fake?

Do you know how fast – FAST MONEY IS?
Everybody knows that anyone buying this stock is strictly speculating –
The common shares are completely and totally worthless!!! Get it? Even the preferred big boys are lobbying congress trying to get 10 cents on the dollar for their preferred’s.
The rush out the door is going to happen in the next day or two and do you know how fast the fast money really is?

Annaly Capital Management, Inc. Q1 2008 Earnings Call Transcript

Thanks for your post - I understand what you mean concerning interpretations - especially in light of the housing inventory overhang.

Has any body considered the following?
CNBC is discussing FNM, FRE, the implication of the Fed's move and what they both have become now. What I would like to consider is:

1) What is Freddie Mac?

Freddie Mac is a stockholder – owned corporation chartered by Congress to increase the supply of funds that mortgage lenders, such as commercial banks, mortgage bankers, savings institutions and credit unions, can make available to homebuyers and multifamily investors.

Imagine NLY integrating itself into the mechanisms of these "owned corporations chartered by Congress"...and becoming a integral part of the overall operation. Any chance they could carve out 'indispensable' niche? Or, as I suspect, NLY is one of a great man players and just too easily replaced?

Thanks to all,

ProShares First to Market with Inverse Bond ETF

I hope this has some liquidity - so many of these ETF's have no volume to help when you exit.

Annaly Capital Management, Inc. Q1 2008 Earnings Call Transcript

Sorry jjason to hear that you lost on this investment, we all know how it feels. Do you feel the 16mil paid in mgt fees was excessive? But jjason, the opening statement made perfect sense....the financial markets have never seen anything like the melt down we just experienced. Hence the Twilight Zone analogy.

And what about this: The FNM earnings news out today - can you believe how bad it was? This news is only going to help NLY by keeping the fear factor high and the spreads from closing anytime soon. There is a story out that 40% of the sold homes in Calif. are foreclosures - I suspect higher in Nevada and Arizona probably too! Fear is NLY's cost of funding greatest ally - no?

CFO4Nova - I wonder, if given the dislocation we have experienced ~ that NLY doesn't become a de facto instrument in any possible new market structure that is being formed. I think there are fair odds that NLY rises significantly as the market figures it out. Any thought?

Annaly Capital Clicking on All Cylinders

May 1: NLY: S&P MAINTAINS BUY RECOMMENDATION ON SHARES OF NLY. Q1 EPS of $0.53 vs. $0.29 tops our $0.47 forecast. Interest rate spread grew 88 bps from a year ago, to 1.46%, and we see further expansion as NLY benefits from recent Fed rate cuts. We remain impressed that NLY has delivered nine straight quarters of EPS expansion in a challenging credit environment, while reducing overall leverage. We continue to look for earnings and dividend growth in '08, on wider spreads and growth at its FIDAC taxable REIT subsidiary. We raise our '08 EPS estimate to $2.40 from $2.24, keep '09 at $2.94, and maintain our $18 target price. NLY yields 11.5%.|