NOWHEREMAN

Low Volume on Little News

Fabien, all the more reason to avoid the Corporate related baskets.

But Would the Fed allow Muni's to default. I don't think so.

Low Volume on Little News

But if you still wish to stick your necks out, I would recommend the Tax free Muni closed ends, like MHI which has a 10% yield payable monthly and Push Comes to Shove will, at least, have access to TARP funds.

I mean, why bother with a taxable yield which does not have a safety net when you can get a similar Tax free issue which has.

This is, of course, my own opinion. Safety is my concern.

The Charts of DHS, JSN and JPS decidedly suck except for JPS which has been going sideways for a while and did not crater to a new low when the financials were reamed again in November.

DHS did go down and JSN may or may not have since one of their trading day prices is decidedly suspect.

Given that the yield on JPS is almost 20% and that it trades below $5 should give one pause but at that level, if it survives, the yield could go down to 10%.

With yield of only 6%, DHS is not worth the Gamble. IMO

Low Volume on Little News

The closed end bond/preferred plays are extremely risky and should be selected only by those with a lot of speculative money.

The new year will have bankruptcys emerging in the Commercial property and Retail Sector, no one really knows who will implode next. Asset prices were a lot higher when most of the Bonds/Preferreds were issued which means when Bankruptcies come into play, the values available for repayment of Bond/Preferred claims will be a fraction of what was available as little as 1 year ago.

They are at discounts for a reason.

IMO

Microsoft Admits Apple's iPhone Is Better

MSFT is also the company which said it would buy back its own shares if they dropped below $24. I wonder how the nonexistent buyback is progressing?

Alternative Energy Storage: Cheap Will Beat Cool

Better take delivery of the certificate, thats the only way you can keep any of it once its gone. After that its one on one against profits or $3k worth of reduction annually. But you still have the certificate. I still have some TWA warrant certificates from the 1970's.

Alternative Energy Storage: Cheap Will Beat Cool

Display Port technology on the way for your laptop, External powerful Graphics by AMD for CAD on your laptop or the latest games, whichever.

Already announced, yadda yadda.

I don't know what it brings to AMD for its future, but believe Intel has a challenge here.

Alternative Energy Storage: Cheap Will Beat Cool

Finally found your comment on AXPW's lead content, back in August you said that they had managed to reduce the amount of lead by 40%. Any change from that level, that you know of?

False Data Clobbers the Markets

US economy is flipping between mild VS strong recession, or even No Recession. Demand Destruction is evident.

One Hurricane hits the Gulf, the economy is hit as a whole. Another looks ready to hit the East Coast within a week, it won't stimulate that area either. Ike is on the way.

While Oil is a long term play, the entire Focus is on the US Economy and the effect these hurricanes will have. In the short term, I would think it will be greater demand destruction.

False Data Clobbers the Markets

One other thing about Gold. Whether as Jewelry, coins or ingots, it will retain some value great or small.

Meanwhile, the Stats provide that stocks are the best investments over a long period of time, usually 50 years or so. That is true if one looks at the forest, that is, an Index. However, thousands of stocks have gone belly up during that same interval and while gold has its ups and downs it does not lose all of its value.

False Data Clobbers the Markets

Icarus? His wings melted and he fell to his death.

The description of "headlong dive" may turn out to be quite prophetic. The cure to an Addiction involves the realization there is an addiction in the first place. We are still in the denial phase.

There is plenty of oil. However, most is horrifically expensive to retrieve or of a grade that 90% of the world can't refine. Might as well leave it in the ground.

The next generation will look at this and laugh. But we are not in that timeline. We have the present.

The Idiots in Congress have forbidden oil drilling away from the High Risk area of the Gulf. This has led to a concentration of refineries in the same region.

Katrina should have been a wake up call. Instead, the alcoholics had a few more drinks. The big difference, that Gustav brings to the table, is that this time around Europe will not accomodate our needs in the form of refined products. Russia's incursion and the threat of oil reduction to the West will preclude aid.

Gustav is not a figment of someone's imagination and if it does even half the damage that Katrina did, refined products will surge and stay higher and longer than if we had only diversified away from the area.

The SPR provides oil. It does not provide gasoline.

Chinese Consumers Cite Pricing as Concern for Apple's iPhone

Doesn't matter, the "gray" market was replicating it at half, on average. Underselling $200 or selling the higher capacity versions for $200 won't be a problem either.