Even With A Fiscal Cliff Deal, Stocks And The U.S. Economy Will Unravel In 2013 [View article]
Another even worse cliff is coming, the full implementation of Democrat policy changes (Dodd-Frank and Obamacare). These policies were designed for a stronger economic recovery that never happened, and were expected to be harsh medicine even then, so they were scheduled to take effect in a non-election year. Good luck out there, I'm Seeking Shelter now!
Who Has A Better Sales And Margin Record: Intel, Texas Instruments Or ARM Hldgs? [View article]
I don't think you can compare gross margins of ARMH to the others because they are mainly an Intellectual Property company and have a very low fixed cost structure. I don't see how they can grow into their high multiple.
Short And Sweet: Microsoft Downgraded [View article]
Good article! Surface is really only an Enterprise technology so MSFT shouldn't cut the price but should focus on the Enterprise market for this and not waste money (e.g. advertising dollars) selling it to consumers.
RT is probably a waste of time and money. Tablets will not replace PC demand but probably will reduce PC demand to the 20% that really need it vs. the 80% that only need a tablet.
MSFT (being a software business) can scale their costs to the market quickly, as soon as they wake up to these realities. Ballmer probably is too old to get this, i.e. it's time to go.
Why The BlackBerry Will Be An Instant Enterprise Success [View article]
One other thing to note for technicians - Apple made a head and shoulders top about the same day that RIMM made a head and shoulders bottom a couple of months ago. Somehow those charts have prophetic abilities at times. I just don't have a strong enough stomach, or strong enough sleep medicine for this one!
The Fed cannot stimulate the economy, nor should it. There is no demand to borrow (except the black hole governments) and the Fed would be pushing on a wet noodle. US government needs a shakeout. Fed has been masking bad fiscal policies for too long, now it's time for government to back off regulations and tax policies that are killing US.
Unfortunately CPI cannot be used to deflate the price of gold because it includes labor costs and production efficiencies which offset the real inflation of raw materials. You should use an index that only includes raw materials and unimproved land to get a better picture of the real value of gold.
Why Hyperinflation Is A Myth (And What It Means For Gold Prices) [View article]
I took enough math to know that M * V = M * (P/M) = P. Thus the total monetary transactions equals the sum of all the individual monetary transactions. That makes the whole thing a bit meaningless. If you increase the monetary base, you decrease the velocity proportionally so M*V remains constant. It's not until people realize there is a lot of extra money in the system, and lose faith in the system, that prices and quantity of transactions increase.
MetLife's (MET) soft guidance for 2013 assumes no share buybacks as whether they can be executed or not depends on the whims of regulators, says CEO Steven Kandarian on the conference call. Of interest: The firm has started buying hedges against sharply higher interest rates. These are the same guys who bought hedges against teeny rates back in 2004 - a bet paying off in spades now. Shares +1.2%. Take that Fed. [View news story]
Hedging for higher rates can be risky business - just ask the London Whale. Isn't that what got MET in hot water a few months ago? Good luck!
Putting A Potential Jump In Dividend Taxes Into Perspective [View article]
I would like to point out that even this tax-hiking administration is not asking for full taxes on dividend income for the $80,000 AGI level, so this article is way worse than the likely outcome, unless nothing is done and we just plummet off the cliff without looking back.
Personally I think Republicans would do best to get as much spending cut as possible for their tax-bargaining buck. It is sad that both parties want to leave the tough decisions to the other party but that's politics in America.
Buy These Winners Of Windows 8: Part 2 [View article]
Many retail customers will switch to tablets and the BYOD trend will slow corporate spending on workstations, but at the end of the day there will still be an upgrade cycle for servers and corporate workstations. I've been watching DELL from a distance for many years wondering why I should own them. With a PE in the 5's and a dividend around 4%, it's now worth owning some in my retirement account. Growth or no growth, it beats bonds.
I think I will consume nothing but ice cream sundaes until unemployment is below 6%. Maybe that will help - probably about as much as QE to Infinity and Beyond, and a little less dangerous.
Even With A Fiscal Cliff Deal, Stocks And The U.S. Economy Will Unravel In 2013 [View article]
Time For Freeport-McMoRan To Change Its Name [View article]
Who Has A Better Sales And Margin Record: Intel, Texas Instruments Or ARM Hldgs? [View article]
Short And Sweet: Microsoft Downgraded [View article]
RT is probably a waste of time and money. Tablets will not replace PC demand but probably will reduce PC demand to the 20% that really need it vs. the 80% that only need a tablet.
MSFT (being a software business) can scale their costs to the market quickly, as soon as they wake up to these realities. Ballmer probably is too old to get this, i.e. it's time to go.
Why The BlackBerry Will Be An Instant Enterprise Success [View article]
That. Was. Unpleasant. [View article]
Why Iamgold Is A Strong Buy (That Could Double) [View article]
The Real Price Of Gold [View article]
Why Hyperinflation Is A Myth (And What It Means For Gold Prices) [View article]
Check my instablog for my take on this.
Fiscal Cliff: Let's Call Their Bluff [View article]
MetLife's (MET) soft guidance for 2013 assumes no share buybacks as whether they can be executed or not depends on the whims of regulators, says CEO Steven Kandarian on the conference call. Of interest: The firm has started buying hedges against sharply higher interest rates. These are the same guys who bought hedges against teeny rates back in 2004 - a bet paying off in spades now. Shares +1.2%. Take that Fed. [View news story]
Putting A Potential Jump In Dividend Taxes Into Perspective [View article]
Personally I think Republicans would do best to get as much spending cut as possible for their tax-bargaining buck. It is sad that both parties want to leave the tough decisions to the other party but that's politics in America.
Buy These Winners Of Windows 8: Part 2 [View article]
La Fed Aux Folles [View article]