Financial News

[StrangeSox]

You are correct, but i have seen a tiny transaction tax proposed as a way to end it

[southsider2k5]

Dow 15000, SP 1600

[bmags]

I really thought q1 reports would be a good time to invest, not so sure now.

[Y2HH]

I really thought q1 reports would be a good time to invest, not so sure now.

 

There are always bargains to be had in the stock market, finding them is sometimes the hard part. Right now, aluminum and natural gas are good places to look, because nobody wants anything to do with either. The idea is to buy them before they do again.

[bmags]

There are always bargains to be had in the stock market, finding them is sometimes the hard part. Right now, aluminum and natural gas are good places to look, because nobody wants anything to do with either. The idea is to buy them before they do again.

 

Thanks for the tip. I'm just not very confident in my judgment on individual stocks at this point, though it's not like I'm playing with large sums. I probably need to mock follow some stocks I like to test some of my insights before I do. The money I'm investing in the index funds is long-term so I'm not too concerned, but was hoping I would not be adding it in during record highs constantly.

[Y2HH]

Thanks for the tip. I'm just not very confident in my judgment on individual stocks at this point, though it's not like I'm playing with large sums. I probably need to mock follow some stocks I like to test some of my insights before I do. The money I'm investing in the index funds is long-term so I'm not too concerned, but was hoping I would not be adding it in during record highs constantly.

 

It's easiest to start with what you know, even if you don't know you know it. Think about a few things in your life you cannot live without, and look into the various companies that make those products. For a quick example, I'd guess that 40% if what's in your refrigerator is made by ConAgra. The answers for investing are all around us, and people simply don't notice it.

 

Take iPhones and Androids, what compromises them? I invested a few hundred shares of Corning, who make gorilla glass. Why? Because I know phones, tablets, etc. All of them use gorilla glass. Corning was trading around 12 for the longest time and in the past few weeks has started to get noticed. It's at almost 15 now and pays a dividend. These are the types of stocks I look for. Who makes something everyone used but nobody seems to have noticed yet? From food to electronics, someone's makes every little detail that goes into it.

[bmags]

It's easiest to start with what you know, even if you don't know you know it. Think about a few things in your life you cannot live without, and look into the various companies that make those products. For a quick example, I'd guess that 40% if what's in your refrigerator is made by ConAgra. The answers for investing are all around us, and people simply don't notice it.

 

Take iPhones and Androids, what compromises them? I invested a few hundred shares of Corning, who make gorilla glass. Why? Because I know phones, tablets, etc. All of them use gorilla glass. Corning was trading around 12 for the longest time and in the past few weeks has started to get noticed. It's at almost 15 now and pays a dividend. These are the types of stocks I look for. Who makes something everyone used but nobody seems to have noticed yet? From food to electronics, someone's makes every little detail that goes into it.

 

I saw your tip in the tech thread on that, it's really good advice. Joel Greenblatt harps on that a lot in his douchey titled books. I just need to keep my eyes open like that and practice. I'm still going through basic stuff like Benjamin Graham's how to interpret financial statements. Any reading material you suggest that helped you?

[StrangeSox]

Ron Johnson’s tenure at J.C. Penney Co. (JCP) will long be associated with a 25 percent sales plunge. Lost amid the criticism since his departure last month is the $170 million it cost to install Johnson and his top three executives.

 

The sum covers cash payments and restricted stock offerings to the four executives and outgoing Chief Executive Officer Myron Ullman -- and doesn’t include salary or incentive pay, according to public filings. Now after less than a year and a half, former Chief Executive Officer Johnson and his trio are gone, and some are being paid on the way out too. Upon his April 17 exit, Chief Operating Officer Michael Kramer pocketed $2.1 million.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-03/j...hnson-team.html

 

[Y2HH]

I saw your tip in the tech thread on that, it's really good advice. Joel Greenblatt harps on that a lot in his douchey titled books. I just need to keep my eyes open like that and practice. I'm still going through basic stuff like Benjamin Graham's how to interpret financial statements. Any reading material you suggest that helped you?

 

Not really, I didn't read up in books because you'll get one book that says X, and another says the complete opposite of X. I invest a lot like Graham or Buffet.

 

I tend to look at a financial statement, see how much profit they turn, what their profit margin is, and how much debt they have vs how much cash they have on hand. Are they paying a dividend? If so, is it sustainable based on how much money they're making? Relatively simple things like this. If you see a company losing money, but paying a huge dividend, something is going to give on that, eventually. I invest in a very boring, practical way. There is no magic to what I do. I simply look for solid companies that people are bored with, or punishing for no reason. I also tend to buy/hold long term.

[bmags]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-03/j...hnson-team.html

 

Not sure that's a surprise, I'm guessing they gave Johnson a hell of a contract to lure over. He was such a hot get since people thought he'd save retail. Guess not.

 

I like a lot of what JC Penny carries, but their stores are old and gross. I expected Johnson to make a flagship store showing what to expect, new layouts, brighter, cleaner, and I don't think that happened. So, the stores basically removed discounts and looked the same. Such poor execution.

[StrangeSox]

I couldn't tell you the last time I went into JC Pennys. There's one about a mile from my house that I never even remember is there. Old and gross sounds about right.

[iamshack]

I couldn't tell you the last time I went into JC Pennys. There's one about a mile from my house that I never even remember is there. Old and gross sounds about right.

I think their brand is irreparably damaged..

[bmags]

I think their brand is irreparably damaged..

 

I just think it will take a lot of capital investment they don't have the market confidence to make. Their stores are too big to change, same for Sears.

 

It's a lot easier for Gap/J Crew/etc to pivot and start this more fashion oriented trend. Hell, sears Lands End Canvas actually has really nice stuff, but you have to walk through 4 miles of generic brands to get there. It's hard to move toward these trends of retail as curators and clear style. Just too much space.

[StrangeSox]

I get Sears results in google for all sorts of random stuff like high-end video system encoders. I guess that's the route they're trying to go?

[iamshack]

I just think it will take a lot of capital investment they don't have the market confidence to make. Their stores are too big to change, same for Sears.

 

It's a lot easier for Gap/J Crew/etc to pivot and start this more fashion oriented trend. Hell, sears Lands End Canvas actually has really nice stuff, but you have to walk through 4 miles of generic brands to get there. It's hard to move toward these trends of retail as curators and clear style. Just too much space.

I dunno...they have made quite a bit of capital investment already and failed. They have been trying to rebrand for a long time with little success. I think a large part of that is my generation always viewed JCPenny as cheap and lame, so we don't shop there as adults unless we are forced to. But for whatever reason, Kohl's manages to run a pretty similar business without that same stigma attached. I think the stores selling the cheaper, lower quality goods tend to do better when they just sort of admit who they are rather than try to dress up their product as something that it is simply not.

[Balta1701]

I dunno...they have made quite a bit of capital investment already and failed. They have been trying to rebrand for a long time with little success. I think a large part of that is my generation always viewed JCPenny as cheap and lame, so we don't shop there as adults unless we are forced to. But for whatever reason, Kohl's manages to run a pretty similar business without that same stigma attached. I think the stores selling the cheaper, lower quality goods tend to do better when they just sort of admit who they are rather than try to dress up their product as something that it is simply not.

The problem we had with the last year at Penney's was that we felt there was a severe cut in the quality of the products they carry on top of everything else. Used to get a good fraction of my clothes there, but over the last year everything me & my wife used to buy there has vanished and was replaced with even cheaper stuff or nothing at all.

[Jenksismyhero]

Who goes to the mall anymore? I haven't been to one in years.

[StrangeSox]

[StrangeSox]

Economists See Deficit Emphasis as Impeding Recovery, by Jackie Calmes and Jonathan Weisman: The nation’s unemployment rate would probably be nearly a point lower, roughly 6.5 percent, and economic growth almost two points higher this year if Washington had not cut spending and raised taxes as it has since 2011, according to private-sector and government

After two years in which President Obama and Republicans in Congress have fought to a draw over their clashing approaches to job creation and budget deficits, the consensus about the result is clear: Immediate deficit reduction is a drag on full economic recovery.

 

Hardly a day goes by when either government analysts or the macroeconomists and financial forecasters who advise investors and businesses do not report on the latest signs of economic growth — in housing, consumer spending, business investment. And then they add that things would be better but for the fiscal policy out of Washington. Tax increases and especially spending cuts, these critics say, take money from an economy that still needs some stimulus now, and is getting it only through the expansionary monetary policy of the Federal Reserve. ...

 

In all this time, the president has fought unsuccessfully to combine deficit reduction, including spending cuts and tax increases, with spending increases and targeted tax cuts for job-creation initiatives in areas like infrastructure, manufacturing, research and education. That is a formula closer to what the economists propose. But Republicans have insisted on spending cuts alone and smaller government as the key to economic growth. ...

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/us/defic...l&_r=1&

[cabiness42]

Not sure where else to put this:

 

http://www.indystar.com/article/20130515/B...d-child-support

 

The Indiana secretary of state has suspended the licenses of two Hoosier stockbrokers after discovering they were delinquent making child support payments.

 

Kenneth McCabe owes more than $70,000 in Lake County, according to a news release. Jeffery Everaert owes more than $14,000 in Porter County. Both counties are in northwest Indiana.

 

They no longer are licensed in Indiana to sell securities, the first securities professionals to have their licenses suspended under a law that took effect in July 2012.

“Hopefully the loss of their livelihood will give these men the motivation they need to start making child support payments,” Secretary of State Connie Lawson said. “If they start paying, it will serve as a late Mother’s Day gift to the mothers of these men’s children.”

 

Lawson’s office is working with the Department of Child Services to identify financial professionals who are registered with the Securities Division of the Secretary of State’s office and who owe child support.

[Jenksismyhero]

Not sure where else to put this:

 

http://www.indystar.com/article/20130515/B...d-child-support

 

Good for Indiana

[Balta1701]

There appears to be a LIBOR-like scandal simmering and starting to build regarding price-fixing in energy markets.

[StrangeSox]

Here's an animation of one-half-second of High-Frequency Trading of a single stock (Johnson & Johnson) slowed down to five minutes.

 

 

Time ran a piece last year about the systemic risks this type of trading is introducing.

 

High frequency trading is a catch-all term that describes the practice of firms using high-powered computers to execute trades at very fast speeds – sometimes thousands or millions of trades per second. These systems have developed over the past ten years, and began to really dominate Wall Street over the last five. For example, a high-frequency trader might try to take advantage of miniscule differences in prices between securities offered on different exchanges: ABC stock could be offered for one price in New York and for a slightly higher price in London. With a high-powered computer and an “algorithm,” a trader could buy the cheap stock and sell the expensive one almost simultaneously, making an almost risk-free profit for himself…

[southsider2k5]

You guys know that arbitrage has been around as long as there has been multi-listing?

[StrangeSox]

Apple’s Web of Tax Shelters Saved It Billions, Panel Finds

 

Some of these subsidiaries had no employees and were largely run by top officials from the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., according to Congressional investigators. But by officially locating them in places like Ireland, Apple was able to, in effect, make them stateless – exempt from taxes, record-keeping laws and the need for the subsidiaries to even file tax returns anywhere in the world.

 

In 2011, for example, one subsidiary paid Ireland just one-twentieth of 1 percent in taxes on $22 billion on pretax earnings from various operations; another did not file a corporate tax return anywhere and has paid almost nothing on $30 billion in profits since 2009.