As the fallout in the financial markets continues to unwind, a number of companies have bolted down balance sheets and insured some cash flows by cutting their once attractive dividends.  In the past month we have seen the likes of General Electric [GE: 10.32, +0.32 (+3.20%)], JP Morgan Chase [JPM: 27.11, +1.97 (+7.84%)], Bank of America [BAC: 7.67, +1.40 (+22.33%)], Pfizer [PFE: 14.25, -0.01 (-0.07%)] and Alcoa [AA: 5.48, -0.11 (-1.97%)] all cut these coveted yields, proving that this trend has extended into and beyond the financial sector.  However, one sector that has maintained their healthy yields has been the utilities sector.  While equity prices in the sector have been beaten down with the overall market, there is still a basket of companies that have the means to continue redistributing lucrative cash flows to investors.  By no means are

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Jon Stewart torched Jim Cramer live on TV, but did he do more harm than good by slamming long-term investing as well?

For anyone who didn't catch it on March 12, comedian Jon Stewart put to shame many hard-nosed financial journalists when he caught CNBC's Jim Cramer in outright lies about his scamming ways running hedge funds.

Stewart, host of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," also blasted Cramer for his less-than-substantive antics on CNBC's "Mad Money" show. 

We should all stand up and applaud Stewart's performance. But he took it too far when talking about how his elderly mother had bought into the industry's long-term investing mantra.

Stewart should've stayed on-topic, drilling Cramer and not letting him off the hot seat. Instead, he ventured too far afield when relating the apparent drubbing his mom took in the markets during the ongoing recession.

Although ex-journalist Cramer is the sort of slumdog

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Notes from the

Investment Underground

Wednesday, March 18, 2008 Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Plastic Paddies… The now and future inflation… Spendaholics Anonymous… Waiting for the Treasuries bubble to pop… The perversity of ‘self-stimulation’… Paul Volcker’s two-tier financial system… Notes in “Fantasyland”… Going to ground in Ireland… And more!

*** Paddy’s Day celebrations are over. Yesterday, the streets of Buenos Aires filled up with lots of Latin “plastic paddies.” All very strange indeed. More on this below.

*** This morning, the Financial Times reports that Mr. Market is waiting to see whether the Fed will start buying long-term U.S. Treasuries to further ‘stimulate’ the economy.

And with rates at near zero levels, it’s running out of ammo. Talking to CNBC yesterday, Dr. Marc Faber, editor of the Gloom, Boom & Doom Report said

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With the arrest of both Satyam Computer Services Ltd.'s (SAY) ex-CEO and ex-CFO, the interim management announced that it'll make all attempts to clean up its books and appoint a new auditor. A new Board has been formed to spearhead the task of salvaging the company, and three members have already been appointed by the Government of India itself.A majority stake sale is currently being undertaken, and the Board of Directors announced that it will release the Request for Proposals (RFP) to all registered bidders. Previously, the Indian government announced that it would not step up to help Satyam with any financial assistance, citing the company's current receivables of approx. $350 million.Given the recent developments, we had earlier downgraded SAY shares to a Sell and have suspended our estimates and target price. Read the full analyst report on "SAY"Zacks ...

Not much happened in gold on Tuesday. The top was in around 10:00 a.m. in London trading…just like Monday. From there it got sold off a bit…and the boyz in New York finished the job. Volume in gold yesterday was light…81,377 contracts less a switch effect of 4,870.

With some notable exceptions, gold is never allowed to rise into, or during, an FOMC meeting.

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Silver’s path was similar…and one could be forgiven if one thought that Tuesday’s price action looked suspiciously similar to Monday’s. Silver’s trading volume was extremely light.

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Monday’s gold activity brought a decline in open interest of 5,741 contracts. Silver o.i. actually rose 30 contracts. Cut-off for this Friday’s COT is today, so whatever o.i. changes are reported later this

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I am moving in blindly behind Macro Man in his reiteration of the shock and awe effect of today's announcement by the Fed that they are going to do pretty much what it takes and most important that they now will be buyers of treasuries.

Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in January indicates that the economy continues to contract. Job losses, declining equity and housing wealth, and tight credit conditions have weighed on consumer sentiment and spending. Weaker sales prospects and difficulties in obtaining credit have led businesses to cut back on inventories and fixed investment. U.S. exports have slumped as a number of major trading partners have also fallen into recession. Although the near-term economic outlook is weak, the Committee anticipates that policy actions to stabilize financial markets and institutions, together with fiscal and monetary stimulus, will contribute

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Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods OJSC (WBD) swung to a fourth quarter net loss of $7.9 million as results were impacted by the ruble's devaluation against the US dollar. The Russian dairy products and juice manufacturer had earned a profit of $34.4 million in the year-ago quarter.

Revenue this quarter shrunk 7.4% to $629.4 million from $680 million. Meanwhile, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization climbed to $79.2 million from $71.2 million.

Full-year earnings were reduced to $101.7 million, compared with the previous year's net income of $140 million.

WBD did not issue any guidance for 2009, citing the fragile economic outlook.

Shares of this Zacks #3 Rank ("Hold") stock are down more than 5% today.

"WBD" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?Zacks Investment Research

Shares of MGM Mirage (MGM) moved lower this morning after the Las Vegas-based casino operator posted lackluster fourth-quarter results late Tuesday.

MGM Mirage earned 10 cents per share for the quarter, while the consensus estimate was pegged at 17 cents.

The company, which had earlier warned that it might violate debt covenants, said on Tuesday that it repaid $300 million to its lenders for a waiver on its senior credit facility through May 15.

MGM is a Zacks #3 Rank ("Hold") stock.

"MGM" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?Zacks Investment Research

Equities continued to march higher during Tuesday’s session on the Canadian Markets as investors smell an economic recovery in the making. For the tale of the tape, the TSX Exchange gained 2.06%, while the TSX Gold Index gave back 1.8% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, added 0.68% with the decliners beating out the advancers by a 358 to 343 margin on pathetic volume of 90 million shares traded.

Merger mania resumed with Lucara Diamond proposing to marry Motapa Diamonds in an all-share deal that would see Motapa getting 0.9055 of a Lucara share for each Motapa share. The move would consolidate the advanced Mothae project in Lesotho. Lucara ended the day flat at C$0.50, while Motapa added C$0.04 to close at C$0.35.

Shares of Baja Mining jumped C$0.075 to C$0.33 after the company tabled a 12 per cent decrease in capital costs for

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The big news from the Fed today was its intention to buy more debt-related securities.

Specifically, the Fed will purchase up to an additional $750 billion of agency mortgage-backed securities. Furthermore, the Fed will purchase up to $300 billion of longer-term Treasury securities over the next six months.

The announcement was a surprise not only because of the decision to actually buy treasuries, but also because of the sharp increase in the amount of money being spent to buy agency debt. The Fed is more than doubling the size of its purchase programs.

This is a bold move and is specifically designed to push yields down and make credit widely available.

The markets are clearly applauding the move with stocks soaring. Financial stocks, such as Hartford Financial Services (HIG) and Huntington Bancshares (HBAN) added to their intraday gains. Cyclical stocks, like

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