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A Golden Thanksgiving

Well with the dollar up because of the Dubai thing, we will see a little drop in gold and stocks. Real assets go down when paper assets go up.

Don't ask me why people would go to a shaky choice like the dollar being churned out non-stop by the printing presses.

Anybody hear anything more about the JP Morgan inventory of their gold ETF that had questionable record keeping (i.e. duplicate serial numbers, etc.)? I moved my money into an English fund.

Of Creditor Haircuts, Precedent and Sheila Bair

Karl

Yes you are correct that the government put an end to the secured credit market. I disagree that the genie can ever be put back in the bottle. It is over and done with - the unions will always come first now. Positing plans that have no possibility of ever being adopted is not an answer.

We have to move on and find replacements. Defensive stocks, solid MLPs with high dividends, developing country index funds, gold and gold related investments.

As usual I am disappointed that you do not address the core goal of this site - seeking alpha, finding the best current solutions to the ever changing riddle of the market.

I know, Hrmmp Hrmmp, the purpose of the Market Ticker is not investment advice. Yeah, that is fine for your blog the Market Ticker. But you are posting this on Seeking Alpha where we have our fun finding and sharing solutions instead of just saying the sky is falling. And no thanks, I am not interested in paying to join your gold blog members group where the truth is revealed.

Face It: The FDIC Is Broke

Mark,

I keep my cash to a minimum - not because of fear of FDIC failure (that won't happen since they will just print more money) but because of the ongoing devaluation being caused by all the secret tax of printing more cash with no backing. Stocks and gold and oil go up as the dollar goes down since they hold their value as our currency is working to become worth less than toilet paper.

Are We Exacerbating China's Pollution?

Karl,

If China is so bad health wise, how is it that we have had 4,000 swine flu deaths and they have had only 36 with a huge population? Maybe we are the ones sitting in a pool of poor health care crap dying, not them. :)

The protectionist cry used to be against "made in Japan", not "made in China", and the Japanese are sitting around with more and fancier toys then we have now, not population.

'High Probability ETF Trading' - A Good Place to Start

I have had some very good luck with the Larry Connors system on stocks. He has a site that costs 79 a month and does all the math and trend research. I would never go solely by his system - the fundamentals are still very important. Sometimes a stock price goes down and no matter what the past performance, because business conditions have changed, will never go back up again. That said, the $79 has been an excellent investment for me. Last week a 3000 investment brought me 490 in 5 days. This system is also geared at shorter term turnarounds, 5 to 10 days, not months or a year. Out of the top picks he has, I usually only find one or two safe enough - i.e. a stock I would be willing to hold more than two weeks - to not worry if I need to hold it longer if the short kill does not happen.

Why I Sold Freightcar America

Their last quarter results were bad beyond belief on sales. They had 700 new orders previous quarter this year, last year's quarter that corresponded to current was 2,600 versus ZERO this year. Ironically the power number for them is 8 since the charting folks only look at the past and not the fundamentals underneath current changes. It may look like a bargin to the charters but with no sales I wouldn't touch it if the rating was 10. :)

Insider Trading on UUP Options?

Karl,

I totally agree - luckily they usually do not so blatantly tip their hands. Don't know about options, just stocks. I used to believe that the fundamentals were most important until I started playing around with the power rating systems out there. I believe the "charters" do so well because the 5 day running averages get knocked out off of true when insiders know about moves. They smell money in the water and no one is selling so the price goes down until the secret news is revealed and the price shoots up over the running average. The charts at least allow a blind pig (non-insider) to find an acorn every once in awhile.

Mobile Phone Wars: Keeping My Distance

Not going to be selling my ATT or Verizon. They know how to make a buck and return dividends. Walmart - that I sold out of long ago. Even with the ideal business climate for them the stock never gets out of the basement. As for T-Mobile, well they remind me of Apple users. Fiercely loyal buy unrealistic about limitations versus the PC. While I have no reception issues ever with Verizon, my T-Mobile friend often has to say to me "I'm heading into a dead zone - have to call you back later." Karl I just don't think ATT and Verizon are going to die give T-Mobile the place you think it deserves unless people go back to accepting poor coverage.

A123 vs. BYD and Other Irrational Battery Investments

Your comments on BYD sure ruined my morning. Yes they are true, but having someone write about them made me have to pull the plug to grab my profits before other people caught on. I was thinking of doing anyway because of the high price, but also before there had been talk of a posible pull back in the China market in November.

Retail: Reality Strikes Again

Karl,

Yes the sky is falling, but it will take a long time to come down. Why not add a little focus on making and securing wealth in the interim.

I have a friend that is a devote follower of you and he has 450K sitting in a non-interest bearing non-FDIC insured account based on some of your dire predictions.

Shouldn't you at least lead you flock in the direction of bomb proof investments like the telecoms rather than hiding money under the mattress?

Are High Dividend Stocks a Good Investment?

I am very fond of the telecoms and I believe their dividends are sustainable and they are extremely safe. The biggest problem I have had is that some of the foreign ones have had their stock increase in value to the point that I cash them in at sign of a pull back since that gain is greater than the amount of the dividend. I certainly have more faith in ATT than Kimberly Clark in this economy. When things are bad, you talk more on the phone, not less. :)

Marijuana, LSD, Cocaine Now Legal in Mexico. Will the Economy Benefit?

Perhaps because of all the drug violence in Mexico the real IPO to look for would be a chain of "rent-a-gun" locations for tourists. :)

Calmer SanDisk, Resurgent VocalTec, Incredible IncrediMail

Mr. Cohen,

Can I ask about another telecom stock, CEL, since you mention VoIP? It was one of my favorites for a year, but recently the CFO left, the stock dropped, panicked me, and I got out of it. (I had broken one of my own rules to get out of a stock that rose over 20% from when I purchased. It had gone up around 23% and with the dip down to 18%. Sometimes I hate it when I am right.)
An absolute superb dividend stock, will it revive?

Shippers Disappoint Market; Market Disappoints Shippers

The shipping industry has its contracts way out - a year or two - so their crystal ball of new contracts must be very depressing.
I am only sticking with ISH. They transport cars and military vehicles across the water, and having been doing well. Their rail transport in the Gulf of Mexico has been a drag but offset by their other ships.
It is a seems a constant theme. Despite the propaganda, the economy is full dead stop in the water and on the land.

Penn West: Distribution at Risk

I believe that it is about two years off that Canada will pull the plug on the Royal Trusts. (Sorry my old memory is not that good.) They are like MLPs returning the profits to unit holders. At that point they will be like standard stocks that shoot to attract investors for growth in stock value since the stock break of high unit returns will be gone.
Yes, Canada is being very stupid. That is the nature of governments.
I was somewhat stupid when I bought the stock. I had thought it was US because of the name, Penn. DUH!