Ray Winter

Will Microsoft Get Squeezed by Chrome OS?

If your business wants to save money, do not buy the expensive office productivity software packages from Microsoft when there is an excellent Free package from SUN Microsystems. SunOffice v.3.1 is more than a match for Microsft Office and has some very superior document handling functions and all files can be saved in Microsoft document formats.

The Global Oil Scam: 50 Times Bigger than Madoff

Mr. Davis has highlighted the true need for regulation as without any, the adventurers and brokers will turn everything to their financial advantage.

I have seen at first hand the trading of commodities by a major commodity trading organisation, and on one particular Oil trade they bought and sold the consignment that was on the high seas no less than four times during the two hours of my visit. On each occasion, the price was increased.

Clearly to stop these trades and to make them more visible to the authorities, every trade should be immediately paid with cash and registered. This will stop most so called 'Oil Traders & Brokers' in their tracks and only those organisations with a true interest in the Oil should be allowed to trade on the exchanges. For too long Banks have been using their financial muscle to buy and sell commodities and it is us, the end-users, that pay the costs for their spurious transactions.

Andrew Mickey: Are Markets Headed for a 25% Drop?

Thinking through scenarios offering potentially great returns is a worthy exercise but most people are looking for the more immediate opportunities.
The International Press reports that the H1N1 epidemic is now gaining a serious foothold in The Ukraine, India and Turkey and it will not be long before our own few cases become a full blown epidemic.
So buying stock in the vaccine producing companies has to be a near term no-brainer. Major producers, such as Glaxo Smith Kline and the other global players are always worthy of an investment consideration.

Barton Biggs video - Stock Market Still has Lot More to Go

Hi Mark
I regularly read your views and find them most interesting. I am also a small time, but regular, investor and I am just a little worried that the Banks are making a fortune out of investors like me with underhand tricks so I would like your view on my experience.

Over the months I have recognized a disquieting trend, at least it's disquieting to me. In my view, when the exchange finishes the trading day the stock valuations should remain pretty much at the prices they finished for the start of the next day's trading. But it seems to me that this rarely, if ever, happens. I receive a real-time feed from the exchange so I can clearly see that at the start of the next day's trading the stocks valuations have materially changed for the night before. This surely means that out-of-hours trading is taking place between financial institutions which the ordinary investor is unable to participate-in and to make their buy/sell decision to their disadvantage.

By way of a real example, I recently noticed the following and asked E*Trade for an explanation:-
Sirs
Can you explain to me why it is that Standard & Chartered's closing price at close of business today at 16.30 was 1588.00, yet when I looked at my E*Trade account at 17.52 today the price shown on the 'digital look' listing was 1560.87. However Bloomberg were still showing the price at 1588.00 at 17.55 on their TV channel.

Does this mean that trades are continued after the closing of the exchange to the disadvantage of the ordinary investor?

E*Trade replied:
"Thank you for your email. Sometimes after the market closes the market makers will do trades with various brokers. This can be done at their discretion. It is normally to do with late reported trades that occurred earlier in the day. E*TRADE does not facilitate this."

So this reply is basically a confirmation that stock trading continues after the day's close of the exchange, which must be totally unacceptable to the average investor as they are unable to monitor their stocks and take whatever actions they need to do to safeguard their money. Consequently it is left to complete chance as to whether they suffer losses or not and small percentages here and there add up to a great deal of cash.

However, the institutions are left in a position where they can make a great deal of cash as they can effectively short the market at the start of the next day. Leaving all other investors with losses on their portfolio valuations.

If my assumptions are correct, then its no wonder the Banks traders are making themselves and their Companies millions of dollars in bonus's.
I would be most interested to learn your view.


Dear Raymond

Thank you for your email. Sometimes after the market closes the market makers will do trades with various brokers. This can be done at their discretion. It is normally to do do with late reported trades that occurred earlier in the day. E*TRADE does not facilitate this.


Should you require any further assistance please contact our client services department on 0845 234 34 34 or mailto:uksupport@etrad...

Kind Regards

Nick Markantonis | Client Services Representative

E*TRADE Securities Limited | Vintners’ Place - 68 Upper Thames Street - London - EC4V 3BJ

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From: [e-mail] [mailto:raywinter@aol....
Sent: 12 October 2009 18:09
To: #UK Support
Subject: E*Trade Stocks Listings

Sirs

Can you explain to me why it is that Standard & Chartered's closing price at close of business today was 1588.00, yet when I looked at my E*Trade account at 17.52 today the price shown on the digital look listing was 1560.87. However Bloomberg were still showing the price at 1588.00 at 17.55.

Does this mean that trades are continued after the closing of the exchange to the disadvantage of the ordinary investor?

Regards

Raymond E. Winter

Android Opens the Doors for Google's Next-Gen Search, Ads and Tools

In his position, of course Eric Scmidt would make many success claims for Android, but the jury is still out until the final version O.S is released. Both Apple and Nokia are formidable competitors with well established, proven and liked platforms and they are not standing still either.

Why Android Is Gaining Ground on Apple

I design and manufacture Smartphones so have a different perspective on the arguments between technical issues, features and benefits of products.
Apple has a great User Interface, many Apps with a superb App creation program. Biggest disadvantage is the iPhone's battery enclosure is inaccessible to the user.
Microsoft's OS is far too heavy, dated, and handles WiFi connectivity poorly.
RIM is now a dated solution as most smartphones can be easily linked into the office email system. The device's antenna is poorly positioned at the rear of the device which a user covers with their hand when making a call, affecting call quality.
Nokia's smooth & polished OS powered them into market leadership and has kept them there but it now needs some extra bells and whistles to match Apple's iPhone. All Nokia handsets are well engineered.
The Android OS is nowhere near ready for the market.

Problem for all the above is they are more expensive than they need to be, but that's the consumer's choice.

My handsets are dual mode, 802.11 + GSM, on a Linux platform with 'best of breed' Open Software programmes, including touch screen, all tightly interlinked by my software. Multinationals use my Smartphone so that all their offices are interconnected via The Internet and their worlwide employees are accessible by a simple extension number with all calls at virtually zero cost to the Company. All users get to keep their own GSM numbers operational on my Smartphone and have Voice Call Continuity (VCC) implemented for imperceptable transfers between 802.11 and GSM - a world first. mazingo.tv

Falling Dollar: Finally Front-Page News

The loss of value and power of the Dollar is extremely serious, in the personal view. It lets all the other contenders in to challenge the West's principles of open competition and control of investment. It also assists them to have a much stronger 'voice' in international trading, a position the west has enjoyed for the past two hundred and fifty years.

The current weakness of the Dollar and the Pound delivers power to China, Korea and Japan without the necessity of war to achieve it. They now control the purse strings of the West and make no mistake that in future we will pay heavily for this change of leadership.

The west's governments are now having to negotiate with their hands tied behind their backs to repay the enormous deficits they are bearing.

So what is to be done?

My suggestion is that the West's owners of large wealth ignore the west's investment 'opportunities' and concentrate their investments in Asian companies so as to gain control over them over the next two years. If we do not control them, those companies will earn sufficient profits to buy-up the West's businesses and we will in the near future become totally controlled by them.

The balance of power in the world had changed and we must adapt to ensure we win in the longer term.

Over the past few years the West has transferred their intellectual technical knowledge and skills to Asia on the correct assumption that our products can be produced more cheaply there. Whilst this is true, the I.P.R and technical skills they have acquired from the West, at no charge, has been unbelievable. The Chinese and Japanese, in particular, are very fast learners and copiers and we will all pay for these short-term gains. So we have to maximize our short-term profits, then draw back from Asian manufacturing in the next two years and re-locate our skills for the benefit of our own people in our own countries before it's too late.

The drop in the value of the Dollar and the Pound allows us this window of opportunity and I hope and trust it will be recognized, otherwise the West can expect to be the new third world countries within a generation or two

O Canada! (Part I): Investing in the World's Soundest Banking System

It's interesting that the countries whose Banks have not been badly affected by the sub-prime catastrophe are all from the UK's Commonwealth countries, and they all followed the financial disciplines with which they were originally established. Canada, Australia and New Zealand have all escaped the problems of the US & Europe.

It would therefore seem that when the BIG BANG took place in the UK financial services industries during the 90's and the subsequent invasion by the US's financial communities to acquire traditional British financial institutions, they brought their attitudes with them to the detriment of financial prudence and respect for their investors and savers.

How Much Natural Gas Remains in the USA?

BP recently announced a major strike of Gas in the Gulf basin which will certainly help the US. Whilst the gas is in deep water, its no worse to get at than they have experienced in The North Sea, off the coast of the UK.

Hedge Fund News Summary, September 2009

Hedge funds are the primary cause of catastrophic runs and hypes on Companies , commodities and minerals.

They use the power of large sums of money to influence the direction of their aims and in doing so cause major upheavals and job losses which are difficult to fight against by those under attack.

Hedge Funds are the cockroaches and the latest masked highwaymen of the financial world and need banning before they do yet more damage to the economies of the world.

Should You Invest in Banking Stocks?

Anybody who buys equities in US and European Banks should be aware they are all being kept in business by their Governments and all have balance sheets which are still hiding calamitous amount of risk.

The Banks that are virtually unaffected by derivative and property risks are to be found in Canada, Australia and just one from the UK, Standard Chartered Bank.

One more strong economic earthquake and the debt-laden shaky Banks will all collapse like a pack of cards.

IMF Gold Sales Vacuumed Up by Governments

Goldcore correctly states that 400 tonnes of Gold is worth around $13Billion. However, the two trillion dollar's worth of US sub-prime backed paper held by China is probably only worth around $13 Billion at today's prices, so who can blame them for attempting to safeguard what little is left of the 'real' money they 'invested'.

Clearly, the Chinese are very aggrieved over the losses they have suffered with their US investments. Their rhetoric for a new 'international' trading currency backed by gold will, in my opinion, strike a chord with many other countries that have been sold a 'pup' by Goldman Sachs and the future will be very bad for the US Dollar if it goes ahead. $1000 an ounce seems very cheap under these circumstances.

Busting Yet Another Market Indicator Myth

I am relatively new to the equity trading world and only got into it when I found that my so called 'investment advisors' were producing paltry returns for me when the market was booming. However, they were making massive sums for themselves from my money as proven by the bonus's they were paid.

Realizing that people that trust their advisors to make them money are effectively sitting-ducks asking to be ripped-off, I decided that if I really wanted to ensure my pensions and equity investments were to make money I had to do it myself as I could not make any more hash of it than the so called 'professionals'.

The past two years have been fascinating and it did not take a genius to know when to step out of equities into cash or other investment sectors and vice versa. Continuous careful analysis of the market produces all the right indicators and those active investors that managed their money seem to have minimized their losses during the roller-coaster downturns, whereas those who trusted their advisors are nursing massive losses. Mutual funds valuations during this time support the case. Careful analysis meant the market upturns were easy to spot and whilst past performance is no guarantee of future performance it is a fact that well run companies with in-demand goods to sell were always going to be quickly turned around, and that is exactly what has happened.

The net result being that those of my friends whom continued to leave their money to be managed after the massive losses they had in late 2008 have not come anywhere close to seeing the gains that have been available during the upturn since March 2009.

In my personal opinion, moving day averages and the like are basically designed for lazy managers to cover their poor performances. They just could not be bothered to continuously monitor the market on behalf of their clients in order to maximize the returns for them. Their view being that over time the market goes up so why worry for the poor old investor, just give them a few percentage points and we will use our sitting-ducks money to make as much money as we can for our companies so they can pay us our enormous bonus's. The investment houses encouraged this greed and the bankers created rich pickings for themselves whilst giving their investor a few crumbs off-the-table to keep them quiet.

Anybody who leaves the care of their money to others should realize that nobody will look after their own money like they do. So get onto day trading and give the investment banking industry the elbow. They are parasites whom have no idea of the hard work that goes into creating the wealth in the first instance.

I regret that I did not put as much effort into looking after my money as that which I spent in creating the investment pot in the first place. I now realize I should have done so thirty years earlier.

$25 Million Worth of Defective Chinese Wallboard Will Cost U.S. Builders / Owners $3.2 Billion

Ah, this must be the same wallboard that the Banks use for their paper-thin Chinese Walls. Obviously, the toxicity got into their brains causing all the current financial problems.

Dick Fuld: My Part in His Smouldering Resentment

Watching Mr. Fuld's performance in front of the post Lehman's investigation committee clearly showed the character of the man.

It is unfortunate that investors cannot have the advantage of such a questioning of these Captains of industry prior to entrusting them with their cash as they could certainly cause much reflection.