Month: September 2013

Article by Investazor.com

Even if the guilty of the President Bashar al-Assad’s attack was proved (because deadly sarin gas was used), the countries that got involved in this matter so far, now have remained motionless. “The red line” was removed by the man who imposed it in the first place. In the present case we are speaking about U.S. whose president Barak Obama doesn’t want to take any decision involving military force without consulting with the Congress. The decision-making process in this situation may be a long and complicated one. Also France and United Kingdom joined the same idea, seeing themselves unable to take proper measures in this situation. Faced with this case, the Arabic world takes the chance to show their fearless and strength. During a meeting with Iranian official, the president of Syria talked about the capacity of his country to face any external attack, indirectly threatening any possible formation of a coalition against them.

This “historical retreat” of the U.S. means one step back due to fear or due to the need of time in order to get prepared for a serious intervention? Or it was all about proving that the U.S. are able to action in this matter, resulting in an appreciation of the American dollar which benefited as an importing country? In any case, considering the U.S.’s economic situation, getting ready to taper the QE program, the majority of the democrats may choose to keep their states away from such a demanding and expensive event. The country’s leadership decided to wait a bit to see how things are evolving and what other reactions may be evoked.

The first reaction that occurred is Saudi Arabia’s ask for intervention in Syria in order to stop any possible violent events. This may be the beginning of the global consensus for stopping the civil war that Syria holds at present and which had been killing over 100.000 people in the past two and a half years. We have reasons to believe that Obama’s intention to delay any final decision is due to force forming a global consensus that would have the power by its size to fight Syria.

The post No Measure is Taken Against Syria appeared first on investazor.com.

By Investment U

This week the “Slap in the Face” award goes to a Wall Street banker who went on the most expensive cab ride in history. How does $5 million sound?

It seems a banker was leaving a Manhattan bar following a fundraising event, and his car service didn’t show up for his ride back to Connecticut.

So, he had to take a cab. How common!

When he arrived at his home the fare was $294. According to the cabbie, the banker refused to pay the amount and said he would pay only $200. The cabbie promptly locked the car doors and drove around looking for a policeman to force this banker to pay his bill.

This guy made as much as $3 million a year!

The banker thought he was being taken back to Manhattan. How fitting!

The banker decided he wasn’t putting up with this and following a scuffle with the cabbie took a pen knife from his pocket – the kind you use to open boxes and envelopes – and cut the cabbie’s hand.

Of course, the banker was arrested for assault.

The news hit the New York papers and Morgan Stanley, who has a clause in its contracts that allows it to fire people whose behavior brings unwanted attention to the firm, has the right to freeze and deny deferred compensation – in this case about $5 million.

The banker of course is crying foul because MS piled all his personal belongings from his office in his driveway, the cabbie is filing a civil suit and Morgan Stanley has an opening for a banker.

All over $94 from a guy who makes millions a year.

That’s a real cheek smacker and well deserved.

Beer Cheaper Than Water

This week the award goes to the health minister in the Czech Republic who wants to make water cheaper than beer.

You heard me right; a glass of water in a pub in the Czech Republic is twice as expensive as beer.

The Czech Republic is the largest consumer of beer in the world and its beer-drinking heritage goes back to the 13th century.

They drink so much beer it is delivered to the pubs, not in kegs or cases, but by tanker truck. The kind we use to deliver gasoline.

And they take this stuff really seriously.

There was actually a war fought over the right to brew beer, and the patron saint of the country is also the patron saint of beer making, St Wenceslas.

I grew up in a coal mining town where there was a bar on every corner, and I thought we drank a lot of beer, but these folks are the real champs.

The health minister said he gives his efforts very little chance of success, but he will try again.

One pub owner was quoted as saying, “It really ticks me off. Beer is like mothers milk to us. The government should work on important things.”

Beer, half the price of water! Maybe it’s time for another trip to Prague.

A (Comfortable) Roll in the Hay

Finally, definitive data on an issue I mentioned here last year about space-age foam versus coil-spring mattresses. I knew this would be at the top of your list of priorities.

As you might recall from last year’s piece, foam mattresses had been criticized by their owners as being lousy for sex. The experience was described as like being stuck in quicksand. Some foam users are even having sex less often since they bought their space-age bed.

But Leggett & Platt, a manufacturer of a hybrid foam mattress, now claims to have solved the problem.

A study funded by the same, titled “Sexy Sleep,” asked 255 participants to evaluate the performance of beds after sitting, laying, jumping, rolling, bouncing and even crawling on them. (That should cover about all of it.)

The hybrid won in all categories.

It seems 85% of mattress buyers never considered intimacy when making a mattress choice. Leggett & Platt are doing their best to change that.

So, if you’re in the market for a mattress you might take a look at the Leggett & Platt “Sexy Sleep” study before making a decision.

Thank God someone is on top of the really important issues we face today.

Finally… A solution to a real problem!

Hide This Guy’s Checkbook

This one is a smack for the record books, but not a good record.

There’s a fashion designer who has a cat, but not just any cat. This cat has three maids and flies on a private jet. Crazy, right?

Hold on to your hats. This guy wants to marry his cat. His name is Karl Lagerfeld and he is dead serious.

The three maids are there to take down everything the cat does while Karl is away, and he reads it to keep up on his, umm, cat to be. I don’t know what else to call it.

When asked about the need for maids and a private jet for a cat, he said, “Why not?” His only concern is that the cat will become more famous than he is.

Oh, Karl also has a person whose only job is to follow him around with a Pepsi Max on a sliver tray. Thirsty and looney!

Someone should take this guy’s checkbook away from him.

Article By Investment U

Original Article: Slap Happy

By Profit Confidential

In its revised estimates of the gross domestic product (GDP) for the second quarter of 2013, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported that the U.S. economy grew at an annual pace of 2.5%, up from its previous 1.7%. (Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis, August 29, 2013.)

GDP numbers being better than before will send a wave of optimism through the stock market—I can just hear stock advisors saying “Buy, buy, and buy some more!”

But you can’t take these GDP numbers too seriously. When you look at them in more detail, there’s a major problem: consumer spending in the U.S. economy is not improving!

In the second quarter of this year, real personal expenditure in the U.S. economy (an important indicator of consumer spending) increased by only 1.8%. In the first quarter of 2013, this number rose by 2.3%! If we are hoping for economic growth, declining consumer spending is not a good start.

So what changed in the second quarter to boost overall GDP in the U.S. economy? Higher exports from the U.S. economy made a big impact. Exports increased by 8.6% in the second quarter, while in the first quarter they declined by 1.3%.

Many will say rising exports are a good sign, because we are producing more and selling more. But what this really gives us is proof that American companies are seeing sales rise abroad, but not here in the U.S.—in fact, it’s more proof that consumer spending in the U.S. economy is weak.

It has been well documented in these pages that companies in key stock indices are complaining about consumer spending in the U.S. economy. That’s why I think U.S. GDP will surprise on the downside in the third quarter.

While presenting his company’s second-quarter earnings, the chairman and CEO of Foot Locker, Inc. (NYSE/FL), a key consumer goods stock, said “Sales in the second quarter were more challenging than we planned for, especially in the United States…” (Source: Foot Locker, Inc., press release, August 23, 2013.)

And demand for durable goods, excluding transportation, declined 0.6% in July after rising for three consecutive months! (Source: U.S. Census Bureau. August 26, 2013.)

Based on the available facts, it doesn’t look like the U.S. economy is on the right path. Consumer spending, the most important ingredient for economic growth, is missing.

Michael’s Personal Notes:

What kind of return should investors expect from the key stock indices the day after the last weekend of summer?

Here’s some insight.

In the 23-year period from 1990 to 2013, the highest return achieved by the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Tuesday after the Labor Day weekend was on September 6, 2005, when the index rose 1.35%. The lowest return it has provided to investors was a loss of 4.05% on September 3, 2002. (Source: Stockcharts.com, “Past Data,” last accessed August 29, 2013.)

If we take out the top and the bottom returns for the day, then the average return for the Tuesday after Labor Day weekend on the Dow Jones Industrial average is actually flat.

In the last 23 years, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has provided positive returns on 13 Tuesdays after Labor Day weekend and negative returns on 10 of them. Hence, there is only a probability of 56% that investors will see positive returns by investing in the Dow Jones Industrial Average this coming Tuesday—not worth the risk at all.

Dear Reader; the returns provided on the Tuesday after Labor Day weekend shouldn’t be your focus. But this weekend is very important to key stock indices in another way.

The period between Labor Day weekend and the Thanksgiving holiday is considered to be the busiest for the stock market…and one of increased volatility for key stock indices. Trading volume pours in as those who were away for vacation usually come back and traders get serious. Most of the major moves in key stock indices we have seen over the past 23 years have been during this time.

Over the summer, many risks have built up for key stock indices.

Eighty-five companies in the S&P 500 have already provided negative guidance on their corporate earnings for the third quarter—a startling 82% of all the companies that have issued earnings outlooks so far. (Source: FactSet, August 23, 2013.)

And we continue to hear noise about the Fed tapering quantitative easing in September. On those fears, we have already started to see key stock indices in the emerging market slide lower. It’s not a hidden fact anymore; quantitative easing played a very important role in getting key stock indices to the high level they are at today. Pulling back on that money printing is very risky as far as the stock market is concerned.

Going into the Labor Day weekend, I realize more and more: key stock indices have risen on the Fed’s unprecedented monetary stimulus (five years of artificially low interest rates and trillions of dollars in new money printed). But now we have dismal economic growth and the anemic corporate earnings that accompany it. Sooner rather than later, this stock market will experience a regression to the mean. Be careful about this market.

What He Said:

“Any way you look at it, the U.S. housing market is in for a real beating. As I have written before, in the late 1920s, the real estate market crashed first, the stock market second and the economy third. This is the exact sequence of events I believe we are witnessing 80 years later.” Michael Lombardi in Profit Confidential, August 27, 2007. A dire prediction that came true.

Article by profitconfidential.com

By Profit Confidential

What kind of return should investors expect from the key stock indices the day after the last weekend of summer?

Here’s some insight.

In the 23-year period from 1990 to 2013, the highest return achieved by the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Tuesday after the Labor Day weekend was on September 6, 2005, when the index rose 1.35%. The lowest return it has provided to investors was a loss of 4.05% on September 3, 2002. (Source: Stockcharts.com, “Past Data,” last accessed August 29, 2013.)

If we take out the top and the bottom returns for the day, then the average return for the Tuesday after Labor Day weekend on the Dow Jones Industrial average is actually flat.

In the last 23 years, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has provided positive returns on 13 Tuesdays after Labor Day weekend and negative returns on 10 of them. Hence, there is only a probability of 56% that investors will see positive returns by investing in the Dow Jones Industrial Average this coming Tuesday—not worth the risk at all.

Dear Reader; the returns provided on the Tuesday after Labor Day weekend shouldn’t be your focus. But this weekend is very important to key stock indices in another way.

The period between Labor Day weekend and the Thanksgiving holiday is considered to be the busiest for the stock market…and one of increased volatility for key stock indices. Trading volume pours in as those who were away for vacation usually come back and traders get serious. Most of the major moves in key stock indices we have seen over the past 23 years have been during this time.

Over the summer, many risks have built up for key stock indices.

Eighty-five companies in the S&P 500 have already provided negative guidance on their corporate earnings for the third quarter—a startling 82% of all the companies that have issued earnings outlooks so far. (Source: FactSet, August 23, 2013.)

And we continue to hear noise about the Fed tapering quantitative easing in September. On those fears, we have already started to see key stock indices in the emerging market slide lower. It’s not a hidden fact anymore; quantitative easing played a very important role in getting key stock indices to the high level they are at today. Pulling back on that money printing is very risky as far as the stock market is concerned.

Going into the Labor Day weekend, I realize more and more: key stock indices have risen on the Fed’s unprecedented monetary stimulus (five years of artificially low interest rates and trillions of dollars in new money printed). But now we have dismal economic growth and the anemic corporate earnings that accompany it. Sooner rather than later, this stock market will experience a regression to the mean. Be careful about this market.

What He Said:

“Any way you look at it, the U.S. housing market is in for a real beating. As I have written before, in the late 1920s, the real estate market crashed first, the stock market second and the economy third. This is the exact sequence of events I believe we are witnessing 80 years later.” Michael Lombardi in Profit Confidential, August 27, 2007. A dire prediction that came true.

Article by profitconfidential.com