Old Rick

Expecting a Sell-Off: 35 Ways to Protect for Less

Wouldn't the simplest strategy be to purchase slightly in the money puts on SPY or QQQ or (if you feel real lucky) QLD puts for say October09? It eliminates a lot of commissions and note that individual stocks can still go up even if "The Market" declines.

Why Microsoft and Apple's Market Caps Should Be Reversed

Not sure why the continual comparison between AAPL and MSFT. Dare I say, Apple and Orange comparison. AAPL sells some computers, MSFT does not. MSFT sells a few (billion) OSs, AAPL bundles OS with their proprietary computers. AAPL makes proprietary iphone, a current leader in the segment, but its only a matter of time before "the new shinier widget" hits the market as has happened to all technical innovation. Ditto iPod. So to review the bidding, Apple competes in a couple very crowded market segments where they are the current leader, MS has a near monopoly in the OS market (~90%, Apple ~9%). And for those that would argue Linux is gaining share, it seems to be about 1.8%. Also, look at the stats:

AAPL MSFT
P/E 25 12
ROA 11 17
ROE 23 38

Top 10 Web Brands, U.S. Usage Stats for December

These numbers kinda mitigate the "strength" of the Google brand. With far superior time exposure on a per capita basis, MSN/Microsoft and Yahoo just have to figure out a better way to monetize that exposure. Of course this is FAR easier said than done. it would seem to make a YHOO and MSN colaboration pretty feasible (maybe).