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A123 Systems (AONE): Q3 EPS of -$1.78 may not compare to consensus estimates of -$0.33. Revenue of $23.6M (+3%) vs. $19.2M. Shares +4.2% AH. (PR)

Help me understand this: The company misses by MINUS $1.45 and the stock goes up 4.2%.

I love it. I should have bought some when I saw that they had a miserable quarter.

WTF???

U.K. is most at risk among large developed economies of losing its AAA rating, Fitch says, while maintaining its stable rating which it said "reflects our expectation that the U.K. government will articulate a stronger fiscal consolidation program next year." In response, U.K. Trade Minister Mervyn Davies insists Britain's sovereign rating is "absolutely" safe, and said the government's "been very clear that over the next four years there's going to be a program to reduce the public debt level."

He notes There is going to be a program.

As in the US, they promise us they will have a program....

So, What's the program?

GB? USA?

I wouldn't let an employee getaway with, "I promise you Doc...I gotta' program to clean up this mess I made...and when I think the time is right, I'll tell you."

Is there a way that we could demand an answer from our politicians? I can see Geithner and the bankster oligarchs sitting around in the evening...imagine the last scene in Boston Legal...

Oligarch: Can you tell me what you have on your mind re managing the debt?

Geithner: Nope!

Oligarch: (What does the oligarch say?

Today in Commodities: Strength vs. Dollar Weakness

Gold might be defined as a measure of anxiety. You can call this anxiety: inflation, deflation, or whatever the name of the economic issue is that causes people to want to protect their assets..

Noone knows what is going to happen. People are less trusting that those in charge really know what they are doing, in the way one would expect an expert to be able to read their environment and predict what will happen next. So, anxiety is increasing. So, holding gold is increasing.


On Nov 09 07:50 PM boden11 wrote:

> We heard the same argument and then same (Peak Oil) for crude and
> yet that's only at like 1/2 its highs and that stuff is burned as
> soon as its refined...
>
> Is this just the next bubble? A combination of nowhere for money
> to go and a hedge against the USD?

Sprint Nextel (S) - up 17.5% after earlier news of its additional investment into Clearwire (CLWR) - announces fourth-quarter cuts of 2,000-2,500 jobs, to save an annualized $350M in labor.

Let me understand this...Business is so bad they need to fire 2000-2500 people...and the stock is up 17 percent.

It is a new normal.

It's not a good sign when the money banks spend on government debt matches the amount they're loaning to businesses (chart).

On Nov 09 10:01 PM ebworthen wrote:
> I wonder what a run on the government bank looks like?

I fear we are going to find out.

U.S. companies largely blew away Q3 earnings estimates, but not regional banks. More than half missed the mark as asset quality continued to deteriorate, and they don't have the huge trading desks that have helped offset losses at their bigger rivals. streetTRACKS KBW Regional Banking ETF (KRE) +1.7% to $20.25.

Often before a couple ends their relationship, they increase their sexual activity...sort of a goodbye frenzy.

We are in a goodbye frenzy.

What can you do but take part and enjoy it. Just remember to pull out at the right time.


On Nov 09 11:20 AM MarketGuy wrote:

> and yet the banking indexes soar...more irrational exuberance

Fannie Mae (FNM +1%) may need to write down the value of its $5.2B low-income housing tax credits after the Treasury vetoed its plan to sell them. "We are evaluating whether Treasury's decision changes our prior determination that we continue to have the intent and ability to sell or otherwise transfer" the credits, Fannie says in an 8-K this morning.

This stock is the market in a nut shell. The share price of this company is up. I want to scream at the top of my lungs: This is a bankrupt company, and the share price is up? Do ya' think that there is something wrong?

Global Markets in Review: Is the Risk Trade Back On?

If you look at 'the reality I will plan my investments on' as what is happening in the very moment, believe the V shaped rally. That is like looking at the housing market several years ago and mortgaging your house to buy vacation homes.

If you look at 'reality' as we cannot go back to where we were because we were in a credit bubble...that is people were buying a lot of discretionaly things based on borrowed money, then you will not believe in a V shaped recovery.

Everyone is entitled to believe in what they wish. I don't wish to believe in the fairy tales of everything will go back to the way it was. Now, that doesn't mean you can't invest and make real $$$. It just means pay attention to what you invest in.


On Nov 08 08:41 PM Stone Fox Capital wrote:

> Every economic graph shows a V shaped recovery so why does everybody
> continue to fight reality?

How Warren Buffett Is Smarter than the G20

Buffet plays l-o-n-g term. Life will go on, and this investment will turn out to be a good investment. Think: Gas goes UP. And/ or we have to get serious about managing the environment. Hi-way trucks are the equivalent of the personal auto. Railroad trains are the equivalent of the car pool.

Do you want to invest in cars or the car pool?


On Nov 08 03:48 AM Gary A wrote:

> I still think deflation is a big threat, in which case Buffett's
> railroads will remain empty and the United States will be Japan.
>
>
> Only, in Japan the people themselves are solvent. I would say US
> deleveraging will outlast Buffett's days on this earth. I hope I
> am wrong.

While Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein understands that "people are pissed off" with bankers, he says everybody should be happy: "Companies are looking to grow again and raise money. That's where we come in. The financial system may have led us into the crisis but it will lead us out."

There is a book, titled the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-Revised.

In this book are listed the behaviors of the various mental disorders.

Buy a copy of this book, or get one from the library. Look at the behaviors of the Personality Disorders. Then, look at behaviors of a subclass of the Personality Disorders, the Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

Focus especially on the behaviors of Entitlement.

Compare the behaviors of the Banksters to these lists, especially Entitlement.

Now, the problem with being a Personality Disorder is because you live within the bubble of your disorder. You earnestly believe what you think reflects 'reality.' And, if you are really disordered, you think and act like you are more important/entitled than others.

Can you imagine the carnage this thinking creates when reality intersects with your Personality Disordered personal bubble?

Now, when your personal bubble has created a bubble for the rest of us, can you imagine the carnage we face.

U.S. Employment Picture Remains Ugly

Personality disorders of a certain stripe destroy their lives by following this rule: I want what I want when I want it.

Addicts' rule: If one is good, two is better.

When you act on these rules, you eventually destroy your relationships and your successes.

Now, project those individual behaviors to our culture.
Remember, a crowd is just an emotional person writ large.

That's us as a culture and now we are just begining to pay the price. Just beginning. When lives come apart they do not stop coming apart until they come completely apart...they hit bottom.

Question: Have we hit bottom?

I don't believe so. We keep thinking we will go back to where we were, or very close to it. We're still trying to make deals to get our fix.

Assumption: We cannot go back to where we were economically, as it was bubble based.

Is there any disagreement?

If that is true, we have not hit bottom.

Bottom is when you stop believing and acting on the old assumptions and act completely and totally differently that before. Because you know through and through you that the old way didn't work.

Does anyone believe that we have given up all the old assumptions and that we are starting anew, without our previous addictions?

If you believe we're cured, you will invest one way; "Play that rally baby, because the Good Times will begin to roll again. And, I'll be able to stop before I get hurt."

If you believe we are not cured, you will be pretty heavily into the euro, PM, and soon shorting, among other wys to play the coming bottom.

World leaders publicly snub U.K. PM Gordon Brown's bold pitch for a global tax on financial transactions, which would be used to fund future bailouts. Treasury's Geithner says economic leaders don't think taxpayers should have to pay for future financial sector foibles.

I'm confused. The way I read it, the banks were going to pay the tax.

Wall Street: Dumb as It Ever Was

Do you have a plan?

You do not like the current plan, neither do I. Do you have a plan?


On Nov 06 10:25 AM socrateaz wrote:

> Could it be the government is actually manipulating numbers around
> to keep the stock market up so that the current administration looks
> better! I see worse than consensus numbers when the previous day
> was up and better than consensus when the previous day was down.
> I wonder Have we been being fed some propaganda along with real numbers.
> And if so. Why? Maybe I think the current leadership believes more
> in their policies than in being truthful. I expect they expect some
> magic happening which will justify all their actions. The best I
> hope for is that Obama's Foley will be revealed and removed, and
> another forty years of avoiding socialist policy will ensue. Have
> no fear another Socialist will gain power because the appearance
> of something for nothing grows to be expected. People in society
> often fail to understand why things happen within society because
> they have not experienced it. I can foresee many worse scenarios.
> A violent revolution like the French, Russian, or Chinese being the
> worst within my possibilities. I think Obama will change as he realizes
> his policies are actually based on ignorance of reality.

Wall Street: Dumb as It Ever Was

I completely ID with your concerns.

It was put best in the tome, The behavior of crowds. Crowds respond to emotion, not what is rational.

I get crazy with it too because I'm so logical. But, your advice was great. Invest. Don't speculate.

Unfortunately, this is not an investment market. It's not clear that there will be a market in 2 or 3 years.

I'm out with the exception of gold related vehicles...and AAPL of course.

Bailed-out banksters complain (vaguely) that restricting bonuses causes their talent to flee, but Bloomberg nails down where they're going: Nomura and Barclays. Derek Thompson feels some sympathy for the poor devils - after all, a talent exodus will hurt taxpayer-owned institutions - but figures a solution may be to make the bailed-out firms back into retail banks where the brain drain is less likely.

I always laugh when banksters plead that they are bright and need special treatment.

Let's define bright. Intelligence in humans is being able to solve problems. Now, really bright people..the kind of people I'd want to pay more money to keep.. are people who can solve problems, while simultaneously promoting what is best for everyone.

Bright is not getting good grades and making the right connections to get hired by others with good grades and the right connections. We mistakenly call that bright, because of our consumerist view of the world, and you can see where that gets us.

Why do some people see banksters as being bright? When cognitive processing power is disconnected from the emotional part of the brain and body, the processesing goes faster...After all, it's only ideas being processed without the baggage of emotional connections. Go see the movie Rainman, for an example.

For banksters, bright is defined by 'a person with an understanding how to manipulate rules motivated by an autistic level of social concern.' And, the more that definition fits, the better bankster you are. And, the more we want to keep you.

Banksters are in it to make money. That is their job at the most concrete level. Social good is not a concern, anywhere in that job description. Look how they twist 'customer service.'

The problem is that processing power without the emotions ALWAYS leads to destruction. Why? When manipulating ideas alone, anything is possible. And without emotions of how this will impact others to slow the ideas down, that anything is always tried.

So friends, they are still thinking like they've always thought. Nothing has changed. We are simply along for the fall unless we add social concern to the job description of the bankster and hold their feet to the fire.

Please do not confuse these thoughts with 'socialism'.