SHerman McCoy

Citigroup: Morgan Stanley's Top Short Idea for 2008

The stock was a decent short 20 pts ago when Jimmy Roger's announced it to the world, it's now a takeover candidate. Since when has any short recommendation by Morgan Stanley ever worked out? By the time the wirehouses come up with an idea, it's time to go the other way.

Wells Fargo Can Hack Its Writedowns - Can Citi and JPMorgan?

This should be placed in the "so what?" section of this website. My barber knows WFC is a great bank. I worked at WFC for 8 years, I know it's a great bank. Warren Buffet owns a chunk, HE knows it's a great bank. Guess what? ITS PRICED LIKE GREAT BANK! The salient salient is, are any of the beaten up banks like C or WM worth buying? Sheikh Bin Talal bought Citi 15 years ago when every pundit thought they were going bankrupt. His fortune rests on that adroit purchase - he's still up 3700%. We all know Citi has problems, BUT if it doesn't go C11, it will likely TRIPLE. The smart money is already voting.

New Energy Investments: Consider Natural Gas ETF UNG

You're making a big mistake. Gas is cheap, no doubt, but this IS NOT THE WAY tp play it. The embedded contango costs in UMG will cost a fortune as the trust rolls its futures positions forward each month.. The roll in NAT Gas can be several percentage points a month, especially when an AMaranth-like hedge fund is shorting the front month contracts. Shorts make money on the roll, and longs take it up the butt. I'm speaking from personal experience. See how much USO has underperformed Crude futures for a related market example.

If you want to own Nat Gas, buy the deferred futures, or an equity leveraged to prices like CHK or XEC, or even a Royalty trust. You got the right idea, you're just riding the wrong horse.