Although I don’t spend every moment watching the stock market as an indicator of our economic woes, I do feel the pain when it comes to paying for college and saving for retirement. So I can’t help but take a breath while noticing the averages rise a bit over the last few days. That said, […]
As with a number of U.S. financial disasters, October is recognized on Wall Street as a trying month. This year is no exception although the signals were pretty clear well before October. While taking a look the financial markets this Wednesday afternoon, the Federal Reserves did the expected in cutting the short-term interest rate by […]
If you love using a Mac (or Linux machine), but need that occasional windows program, today is your lucky day. Head over to the ‘minimized’ CodeWeavers site and download a copy of CrossOver the open source software that lets you run a Windows program without the need to purchase a Microsoft Windows OS license. It […]
On Wednesday night, President Bush addressed the nation in order to explain the economic crisis and layout the administration’s plan in order prevent a “deep recession.” From studying the comments from the past few day, this credit crisis isn’t going away without some kind of intervention by the government … and if a Republican is […]
As oil rises the stock markets fall creating double the pain for those who are invested in the stock market as investors, college planning or retiring. Those hoping real estate is safer, think again as housing continues to get pinched in most U.S. cities. All in all the economy is suffering and with it, almost […]
Crude oil is trading up more than $11/barrel to a record high on a weak dollar do to surprising U.S. unemployment numbers. The number had the strongest rise in 2 decades and analysis at Morgan Stanley suggests prices may reach $150 within a month. Oil is “being used as a hedge by speculative buyers for […]
The crew of STS-118 and Space Shuttle Endeavour (see launch post) are back on the ground after a 13 day mission to the International Space Station this Tuesday afternoon. The skies were clear and the landing was picture perfect executed by Commander Scott Kelly at 12:32 p.m. EDT. The mission was filled with work and […]
From a public relation perspective, News Corporation (NWS) is at least a company that listens to its customers and shareholders. They are obviously listening to the many outraged broadcast viewers (and shareholders) who are upset with the latest book deal and television program featuring OJ Simpson. Simpson worked a book deal with the Newscorp owned […]
The stock market continues its October rally as the Dow soared up another 123 points today closing at an all time high of 11,850.61. The rally is credited to lower interest rates as Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke sees a strong economy even with a slumping housing market. The big news was General Motor saying “no” […]
***Click for larger version of this chart*** The chief measuring stick for the stock market, the Dow Jones Industrials, closed at 11,718.45 and briefly traded at record levels today. Shortly after the 9:30 market open, the index was trading above its record high close of 11,722.98 set back on January 14th, 2000. For some this […]
As much as I like Crocs as a company, a stock (CROX) and as a trendy shoe ‘fad,’ the recent jump in stock price in a hot stock market triggered one of my self imposed trading rules today: it moved 15% up or down in 3 days so I sold at $34.64 this morning. (I’m […]
Brenda and I have been asked several times recently … “are you retired?” The most recent for me was at my yearly wellness physical by my PCP. I’m not really sure how to answer the question since there hasn’t really been a definitive “we are retiring” moment for either of us. I “work from home” […]
What is there about October that upsets people and financial markets? For nearly a century investors get nervous this time of year. Unfortunately watching the market as closely as I do, one would think I would have sold stocks at the first sign of trouble in October. Nope, I expected better from a few of […]
My financial and investment musings have been few and far between lately, but while reading Barron’s Magazine article this past week, it reminded me that we investors often can look to history for insight. If you don’t want to read it, try listening to it — Audio ElevenLabs. ElevenLabs AI reading this content – […]
For investors and retirees desiring an income stream from their investments, Closed-End Funds can be pretty attractive. That said, there are advantages and disadvantages … with some help from ChatGPT. 😉 Advantages of Closed-End Funds (CEFs): Market Pricing Efficiency: Unlike open-end mutual funds, CEFs trade on stock exchanges, allowing their shares to be bought and […]
In Barron’s Magazine (11/10/2022), there was an excellent article by Karen Hube on “How to Use This Year’s Market Tumble to Reduce Your Tax Bill.” The read is helpful for those contemplating a way to use their losses to offset what they may have sold … or using the “market tumble” as a way to book […]
We are looking forward to seeing Taylor’s new condominium in Cincinnati for the first time this weekend. He informed us that he “has the keys to the castle” a couple days early (negotiated current tenant move out date). We can’t wait. It also came on the same day Katelyn and Drew forwarded a photo of […]
As we wind down 2021 and close the book on a stressful COVID19 filled year … here’s hoping next year will bring an end to the pandemic. If that is not going to be the case, then let’s hope the Omicron Variant isn’t as deadly as the Delta Variant … and that we will keep […]
Although I’m not an all-in cryptocurrency buyer, trader or investor (pick your poison), I do own and am accumulating small amounts of different crypto. After a fair amount of reading this past year, my conclusion is to use a reputable cryptocurrency exchange like Coinbase Pro, Coinbase (disclosure: I own $COIN stock), Uphold or Interactive Brokers […]
A friend contemplating rolling over his 401K to an IRA asked me a bond investing question the other day as he would like to balance his portfolio of stocks by adding some bonds after the rollover. Since he has never owned a bond (outside of a managed fund), the question was, “what’s the impact of […]
For decades now I’ve had a fairly positive relationship with both business (CPP) and personal banking … and particularly with local banks. I grumbled the 1990s when multiple bank mergers forced out the manager I worked with in NE Ohio. He knew me by name and often pulled me aside to see if there was anything […]
If you are an investor or long term education and retirement saver, you’re feeling the pain today as the coronavirus Delta variant spread could impact the economic recovery. U.S. stocks, oil prices and government bond yields slid Monday as anxiety mounted over the spread of the Delta coronavirus variant and its potential impact on the […]
General Electric‘s ($GE) first-quarter 2021 earnings were as they should be. Still, it wasn’t quite enough for investors. General Electric (ticker: GE) shares were down about 2.7% in premarket trading. S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures, for comparison, were both off about 0.1%. The company reported an adjusted profit of 3 cents a […]
For the most part, I’m a conservative investor, although a regular channel trader, and I rarely speculates on risky upstarts, IPOs, zero-profit tech stocks, pharmaceutical long-shots or the latest crazy … cryptocurrency trend. Since most “risk” involves speculation, I see it more akin to gambling than eyes-open informed value or growth investing … both which […]
It was a tiring week with the drip, drip, drip Coronavirus news and highly-reactive financial markets. Although frightening, investors rightly or wrongly responded with a selloff of historic proportions. The entire meltdown seemed more like hysteria and panic and had me wondering how our country and nation ever faced plagues, a weak economy due to […]
As the year and decade wind down, it is the time of year investors and financially prudent planners take note of their savings and retirement portfolios. Barron’s surveyed strategists who continue to expect “more gains ahead for U.S. stocks” with the caveat, “barring a jarring election or a derailment in U.S. – China trade.” So […]
Likely I am not alone in constantly reevaluating the pros and cons of participating in social media. I’ve purposely limited my exposure to only a couple of platforms even though I enjoy staying in touch with friends and acquaintances … and generally don’t have a problem with people respectfully debating news and politics. Facebook as […]
Although we hear (or at least I read) about cyber attacks to the U.S. electrical grid and utilities on a regular basis … but I’m not sure we take these events seriously enough? I’ve blogged on this ever since reading One Second After, a detailed factual-fiction story about just how devastating, vulnerable and dependent we […]
After impressing almost all analysis with their quarterly report, stock buyers continued to buy $AAPL stock on Thursday making Apple the most valuable company. I watched the coverage on and off all afternoon on Fox Business and the party atmosphere and giddy excitement reminded me of the same dot.com partying in the late 1990s. Oh […]
Colgate is my usual go-to toothpaste, although generally prefer the old fashion white and am partial to baking soda … but I’m off topic. My gripe is that their recent packaging (at least so I’ve noticed) is terribly misleading. After opening the normal large sized toothpaste box, I noticed it was WAY larger than the […]
How does on plan for the flattening yield curve – or even inversion (spread between 10-yr and 2-yr Treasury Bonds)? Barron’s – June 2018: “Inversion has an amazing record of forecasting recession…but stocks have typically continued to rise (sometimes sharply) after the inversion with a median gain of 13.1%.…Bottom line: the flattening yield curve is […]
Have you filed your income tax return yet? 2017 returns are due today! While catching up on some reading while out of town this week, Jim Glassman, Head Economist at JPMorgan Chase, had me pondering (and tweeting) about the length of sustained growth that might be possible after the recession. He, and many others, have […]
The long time investigative correspondent for CBS, Sharyl Attkisson did an excellent job of “fairly” building a timeline in the “Collusion against Trump” details on her website. If you really want to understand what we know so far regarding the Russian connections, it is worth at least skimming the points below. On a separate note, […]
After President Trump’s bombshell about placing tariffs on US imported steel and aluminum last week (although he did suggest it during his campaign for president), comments made later made it sound like cooler heads may prevail — that … and the fact that many of President Trump’s advisors remained quiet or gingerly disagree. Speaker Paul […]
Well, well, well … perhaps this is the correction many watching the financial markets have been looking for as a 4.6% drop on the DOW in a day is a rather large one. It was another day of selling on Wall Street helped by computerized programmed trading and likely the relatively new ETF broad based […]
As GE stock continues getting battered (although a 4.48% bounce back today), quite a few investors have been waiting for the bad news to end and new management direction to bring this huge ship back on course. (I’ve been buying, and selling) It is likely be too soon to expect things to change, but General […]
While waiting for the predicted Tuesday vote on the GOP Tax Plan that has been anticipated ALL year, it is looking like it might actually get done in 2017. It has not been easy or as simple as many of us wanted “Tax Reform,” but the corporate tax cut will make the U.S. more competitive […]
Now that Volkswagen TDI owners have to accept the performance debilitating modification or return in their diesel cars in for compensation as the settlement enters the "compensation phase." Some have been stripping parts off their cars prior to turning them in. Joe Mayer, in Cincinnati has take that a step further … and stripped "the […]
The exuberance is everyway if you listen to the talking heads on cable business news shows as all but "one" component of Pres-Elect Donald Trump’s platform is good for business, jobs and the economy. Unfortunately it is the component that the media and Twittersphere is currently focused on … a 35% tariff on U.S. companies […]
A WSJ article posted about a year ago listed 11 books recommended by legendary investor Warren Buffett … interesting choices. Some are expected, others surprising. The Intelligent Investor, by Benjamin Graham. Of this classic tome on value investing, Mr. Buffett once wrote: “Picking up that book was one of the luckiest moments in my life.” […]
If I were a bit more savvy and listened to my own advice, I would have traded Twitter ($TWTR) for a few dollars this week. On a downgrade to a SELL by Evercore ISI analyst Ken Sena, shareholders listened and poured their sell orders onto the exchanges after seeing shares climb the last few days […]
Financial markets around the globe are reeling Friday morning from yesterday’s historic BREXIT vote in the UK as the people have chosen to exit the EU. Big picture is that life has not improved for citizens of Britain under the real or perceived central control — some suggesting it is "their" Independence Day. Even though […]
It has been a rough couple of days for Apple ($AAPL) shareholders as growth this past quarter was elusive. Most blame the global economy, and in particular China, for the weak quarterly numbers. It does remind me of late 2012 and 2013 when analysts questioned whether management had lost their way. The same is happening […]
Time to keep an eye on this small company … really hoping it can keep promises and start producing a $6800 three wheeled car without too many hiccups. Shares will be traded on the OTCQX under the ticker ELIO according to a press release. PHOENIX, Feb. 19, 2016 – Elio Motors, Inc. (OTCQX: ELIO), […]
January 2016 has not given investors an optimistic start as stocks sold off for another day on Thursday. The slide gives the Dow its worst start to begin a year since the 30-stock index was created in 1928. Fingers are pointing to economic woes and government financial manipulation in China as well as world oil […]
The world around us is degrading into chaos as Russian “tough guy” President Vladimir Putin sent his militarily into the middle east and has quickly backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against the supposedly the terrorist group ISIL/ISIS who is aggressively building their Caliphate and the American backed pro-western rebels (well, maybe … but who really […]
For those owning Twitter stock (TWTR) – trading Tuesday afternoon at $27.22 (down 3.3%), it has been a year without all that much good news to cheer about, followed by a declining stock price since May 2015. Today another executive, the former CFO Mike Gupta (overseeing the company’s venture capital arm) jumped ship. One wonders […]
Equity markets are struggling to make any positive headway this month as each time there is a sliver of optimism that the economy will improve, another round of negativity takes the wind out of sails. Wednesday, after what looked like a positive start to the trading day, a “triple whammy of a pullback in energy […]
IFTTT = IF This Then That Think of it as a simple programming app where there is an “action” when a “trigger” is observed. It is set up on a mobile device and works with “channels” … like Facebook, Evernote, Twitter, Email and even WordPress and it will do something when a “trigger” is observed. […]
A big morning for stocks as global markets celebrate Japan expands their stimulus. The DOW hit an all-time intraday high as giddy investors bought blue chip equities expecting the economy to continue to grow. The good news of better corporate profits and the Federal Reserve’s finalizing their stimulus makes Wall Street feel good … BUT […]
My morning routine includes turning on CNBC for my business news, trading and investing “fix” and the segment on the Facebook vs. Twitter social networking challenge peaked my interest. As expected, the focus was primarily which stock would make an investor the most money. Obviously Facebook has a significant lead both in platform maturity and […]
Ukraine continues to be under siege, SE Asia and Africa have unstable countries, Afghanistan will most likely go back to Taliban control, Iraq is imploding … but European markets are said to be in “recovery” and U.S. stock indices continue setting new highs and generating overly inflated annual returns for those “fully” invested (since when […]
As the U.S. continues to delay and “study” the Keystone pipeline as a way to efficiently move North American crude oil from east of the Rocky Mountains in both Canada and the Dakota Bakkans to Texas refineries, other options and pathways are moving forward. Energy pipeline company Kinder Morgan Energy Partners L.P. ($KMP) held a […]
The snow has returned again to stretch out this already long and cold winter. March has always been one of those questionable months, but one I generally associate with “spring” … so far not this year. Katelyn and Drew were home for the weekend and we had a great time together as usual. Besides talking […]
As the financial markets continue to flirt with record levels again, insiders are looking at where cash is being put to use, or not. Fox Business mentioned this morning that analyst expect much of the sideline cash to head towards R & D even as mergers and acquisition deals are garnering most of the headlines […]
No … not what you think. I have not gone down the Doomsday rabbit hole … just yet, but for years I’ve been interesting in self-sufficient living and do my share of reading. I enjoy reading both fictional thrillers about EMPs (ie. One Second After) and books oriented towards self-sufficiency. I’ve spent a few hours […]
In my pile of books, I’m reading one co-authored by Robert Wiedemer called “Aftershock Investor” and he is anticipating, after he accurately pinpointed the housing bubble, that we are nearing two additional bubbles. First, he highlights the dollar bubble as the Fed’s “quantitative easing” continues … followed by the government debt bubble as at the […]
Short and sweet. As one would expect from the 140 character social networking company. — MT @Twitter We’ve confidentially submitted an S-1 to the SEC for a planned IPO. But here are a few more tweets collected by the Associated Press. — #FunFact: In the first hour of @Twitter sending that IPO announcement tweet, 7,872 […]
At about the noon hour today stocks on the NASDAQ stock exchange were halted without much news besides a “technical issue.” According to CNBC, the markets should reopen at 3:30 although a few stocks will be reopened as a test around 3PM. (Quotes “only” for other Nasdaq listed stocks begins at 3:10PM) I’ve been eyeballing […]
New devices, September dates, bigger screened iPhones, Carl Icahn taking a position in $AAPL stock. As the Mazda ad goes … zoom, zoom. Reportedly, Apple Inc (AAPL) will unveil its much anticipated next generation iPhone on Sep 10. The device tentatively called iPhone 5S (can be 6 also) is rumored to feature a larger screen, […]
With Apple struggling to keep its stock price from dipping any lower (although it really doesn’t look like they care), analysts and tech watchers speculate that there will be an Apple HDTV offering and a less expensive (cheaper) iPhone, but who knows what the new product(s) will be? I’m in the camp that sees the […]
As a strong defense conservative, I do have a difficult time finding fault when our leaders when it comes to keeping our country safe, but does the Department of Homeland Security really need 1.6 Billion rounds of ammunition? As a taxpayer the overkill and waste is very frustrating. 1.6 Billion Rounds Of Ammo For Homeland […]
Said tongue in cheek, just to be clear … Without big government, individuals and their businesses couldn’t build anything, according to President Obama. I suspect if he had his way we’d even have more government funded federal programs and bureaucratic agencies to oversee innovative and productivity. (Wake up America … take a look at how […]
A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to its investors from their own money or the money paid by subsequent investors, rather than from profit earned by the individual or organization running the operation. The Ponzi scheme usually entices new investors by offering higher returns than other investments, in the form […]
Google, an avid supporter of the 1st amendment, has decided they are NOT so supportive of the 2nd amendment … as I figured out after a few days of recent search failures for what Google classifies as “non-family safe” products — in this case, firearms. After using a particular firearm a few months ago, I’ve […]
Read this review and thought: “I sometimes pay this much for a software update?” Hmm … now give me a phone this nice without a contract and I’m interested. Google’s Nexus 7 tablet is not exactly a surprise. Nor is the fact that I’m able to work on a review of the product just hours […]
Besides trading in an out of the depressed Natural Gas market in the past month, I’ve been pondering how to “eventually” capitalize on what I see as a bottom in the commodity price for NG and a possible upside down the road. How far down the road, who knows? I’ve been doing some reading […]
In tying up loose ends in closing out the year, one story that made a big impact on technology followers was the death of Steve Jobs. He was an inspirational and creative marketing wizard with oddities all too common with those we associate with the “genius” label … and would have been my pick for […]
A very impressive day on Wall Street after the central banking news this morning. Many expected an end of day weakening, but buyers continued to pick up shares of companies who’s stock has recently been beaten back. The positive move continued the trend of volatility that has marked nearly the entire year. After an “off […]
How do you know a politician is lying? Well we’ve all heard the old “lips are moving” answer … it is even more true today than in the past. As someone who really wanted to believe that people – voters – could make a change … I’m becoming more and more disheartened. (Disclosure: I didn’t […]
Since I’m having a few problems getting my carburetor/idle issue corrected on my tiny MGB, perhaps picking up a new engine might be a solution? Mopar® to Highlight Cubic Inches and Horsepower at SEMA – 800 horsepower V-10 Crate engine takes center stage at SEMA – Gen III High Output HEMI® V-8 with 590 horsepower […]
Earlier this year as 2010 rolled into 2011 many American though it might be safe to look at their IRA and 401K statements after the long recession … but as deficit and debt talks heated up and U.S. debt was downgraded due to continued Washington DC borrowing and spending this past summer … most of […]
I’ve been thinking about the passing of Steve Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) and realized that there wasn’t enough time to include all I wanted over a lunch hour. First, his innovative vision, business savvy and keen sense of “what customers wanted” have earned him a place in my list of […]
It is odd how my “simple mind” works when contemplating a blog post on Labor Day. As I grappled with the history of the holiday, my thoughts drifted to present day directional changes our country is making – some reminiscent of the reasons that triggered our end of summer holiday. In reading about our nation’s […]
There seems to be a little tarnish on the once high-flying Netflix who has dominated the DVD and streaming movie market since the demise of the big box video rental stores. Their model seemed to be invincible until someone realized that business is only as good as having content … and customers willing to pay […]
Double dip or not? That is the question investors are facing, especially if they are holding stocks and bonds. After lunch today the markets are still seeing heavy selling … panic selling perhaps … after the S&P downgrade this weekend. Realistically though, companies and even banks are much stronger than they were back in 2008 […]
After the agonizing debates in order to come to a half solution to control our deficit, debt and raising the President’s ability to borrow these past several weeks, the debt ceiling agreement did little to help the world’s financial markets – Europe’s banking problem does little to help. Today Wall Street returned the largest lost […]
As Washington DC politicians debate how to deal with the U.S. debt ceiling and rapidly climbing debt, investors are faced with the growing possibility of default or at minimum a very real likelihood that we’ll see our nation’s credit standing slip. Individuals, companies and the government seeking to borrow money will see interest rates increase […]