Enter your Email Address


Useful Links

Know What The Insiders Are Doing!
Stock Trading Software

More Links




[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]

[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]




An interview with Charlie Gasparino

Prieur du Plessis (November 5th, 2009) Writes:

Dan Holland has just interviewed Wall Street chronicler Charlie Gasparino’s. The first few paragraphs of the interview that appeared on RealClearMarkets are published below.

There’s good reason to believe that Gasparino’s latest book, The Sellout, will become the definitive book on the current financial crisis and the events that led up to “The Great Recession.” Spanning three decades, The Sellout pulls no punches in chronicling the rise and fall of excessive Wall Street leverage and risk taking, as well as the cast of colorful characters that ultimately brought the US financial system to its knees. It will hit bookshelves tomorrow [Tuesday].

RealClearMarkets: You sat down recently with Wall Street legend Teddy Forstmann to discuss your new book and the genesis of the mess we now find ourselves in. Forstmann said it all began as a “cold” back in the 1970s and 1980s, and that since

...

Defense Solutions Holding Inc. (DFSH.OB) Growing into Global Power

QualityStocks (October 23rd, 2009) Writes:

Defense Solutions Holding Incorporated is a company that is on the rise. Founded in 2001 in Exton, Pennsylvania, Defense Solutions is known as being one of the few American companies that does business in the U.S. and Iraq. Today, the company announced that one American refinery and two Asian refinery groups have asked them to secure oil contracts in Iraq.

One of the most unique aspects of Defense Solutions is how far their business has branched out. In 2005, when the company was merely four years in their history, Defense Solutions supplied 77 T-72 tanks to the Iraqi Army whom were under contracts with NATO at the time and the U.S. Army. Since then, Defense Solutions has entered into joint development agreements to produce the NATO-compatible armored personnel carrier, the BTR-4.

Leading the way at Defense Solutions is Colonel Timothy D. Ringgold, PhD who formed Defense Solutions upon

...

Hidden Traps Make Bank Stocks a Bad Deal

Contrarian Profits (October 6th, 2009) Writes:

Billionaire investor George Soros said yesterday (Monday) that the U.S. recovery would be a slow one because of all the “basically bankrupt” financial companies impeding it.

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Congress agreed Friday that the financial system – not the American taxpayer – should bear the costs of bank bailouts. Sheila Bair, head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), wants the banks to ante up $45 billion – three years’ worth of deposit-insurance premiums – to bail out the fund that insures bank deposits.

When it comes to bank stocks, we all know that there were a number of Money Morning readers shrewd enough to buy Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) shares when the foundering giant’s stock price was below $1 a share.

If you’re one of those investors, good for you: With Citi’s shares now trading at nearly $4.70 a share,

...

How the Government is Setting Us Up for a Second Subprime Crisis

Shah Gilani (September 23rd, 2009) Writes:

Is the government creating another subprime-mortgage bubble?

The first time around, the three-headed federal serpent – the Bush administration, the Treasury Department and the U.S. Federal Reserve – used Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) to “legitimize” trillions of dollars worth of toxic financial waste known as subprime mortgages.

The result was the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression – a mess that was global in nature.

And we’re now headed for a repeat performance.

Some of the players may have changed since the first subprime-mortgage crisis, but the game apparently remains the same. With banks currently unwilling to lend, the new federal triumvirate of the Obama administration, the Treasury and the Fed are trying to inflate the moribund U.S. housing market. This time around, however, the FHA is the weapon of choice.

Obama & Co. are making an all-or-nothing bet that the

...
Tags for this Post:
bank balance sheets, Bank Failures, bank viability, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp., Bear Stearns, Boxer, bush administration, China, contrarian profits, Department of the Treasury, Europe, Fannie Mae, Fdic, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, Federal Reserve System, Florida, Freddie Mac, Ginnie Maes, Government National Mortgage Association, inspector general, insurance guarantees, internal inspector general, Investing Lessons, Japan, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Market Commentary, Middle East, now-failed investment bank, Obama & Co., Obama administration, Ocala, Real Estate Prices, residential real estate loans;, residential real estate pricing, Russia, Secretary, Shaun Donovan, Stearns territory, Taylor Bean, The Wall Street Journal, U .S. Federal Reserve;, U S Treasury, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, U.S. government;, United States, USD

It’s the Lack of Job Creation, Stupid! – Analyst Blog

Dirk Van Dijk (September 2nd, 2009) Writes:
With the release of the Automatic Data Processing (ADP) numbers this morning and the BLS jobs report due out on Friday (and initial claims tomorrow), jobs -- or the lack of them -- is clearly front and center. Normally when people talk about job losses or gains, they are talking about net job creation. After all, even in the biggest booms, there are still some people who are losing their jobs, and even in the deepest darkest recessions, there are some folks who find new jobs. There is an interesting article today by Andy Harless of Atlantic Asset Management posted on Economist View that disaggregates it into the rate of job destruction and the rate of job creation. It is a long and interesting article and is worth reading. The key trends are shown in the graph below. If the blue line is above ...

Of Ideologues and Ranters

Menzie Chinn (August 29th, 2009) Writes:

From Arnold Kling's entry yesterday:

Kwak goes on to endorse Chinn's ideological rant that the Bush tax cuts caused the financial crisis. Yes, I know that Chinn is speaking in the tone of economic analysis rather than a rant, but only a left-wing ideologue would take the thesis seriously. I bet Kwak cannot find a blog post of Chinn's where he made a policy point against Democrats/liberals or for Republicans/conservatives.

Where Kling is responding to James Kwak's assertion: "[Menzie] Chinn is not given to ideological ranting." (Thanks, James).

I don't find it very profitable to characterize anybody's posts as "rants", but I thought it useful to see what the definition is:

A rant or harangue is a speech or text that does not present a well-researched and calm argument; rather, it is typically an attack on an idea, a person or an institution, and very often lacks proven claims. Such attacks

...

Prieur’s readings (August 29, 2009)

Prieur du Plessis (August 29th, 2009) Writes:

This post provides links to a number of interesting articles I have read over the past few days that you may also find enjoyable.

• Doug Kass (TheStreet.com): Sooner or later, the piper must be paid, August 28, 2009. My view is that investors will shortly see through the current sugar high and the better-than-expected earnings cycle and will begin to look over the valley at the chronic and secular issues that have emerged from the past cycle and from policy decisions aimed at returning the domestic economy toward self-sustaining growth.

• Michael Kahn (Barron’s): Dollar and frothy sentiment are new worries, August 26, 2009. There’s a fine line between risk taking and risk ignoring. Bulls may be doing both.

• Economist.com: Has the tide turned for corporate profits?, August 27, 2009. The recent rally in shares has

...

Monsanto Focused on Long-Term Growth, but DuPont Dustup Draws Attention from Regulators

Contrarian Profits (August 21st, 2009) Writes:

Monsanto Corp. (NYSE: MON), the world’s largest seed maker, says it’s on track to more than double its 2007 profit by the year 2012 and is expecting a “technology explosion” to provide even stronger products going forward. But while Monsanto continues to build on its reputation as a cutting edge agricultural business, it is also under siege by competitors and advocacy groups who claim the company is a monopoly.

The St. Louis-based Monsanto said in June that its fiscal third-quarter earnings fell to $694 million, or $1.25 a share, from $811 million, or $1.45 a share, in the same period a year ago. Sales slipped to $3.16 billion from $3.54 billion last year. The company also said its annual earnings would likely be at the low end of its $4.40 to $4.50 a share forecast range.

That’s not very impressive for a company that last year posted record net sales

...
Tags for this Post:
advocacy groups;, agribusiness arch-nemeses, agribusiness sectors, assistant attorney general, Barack Obama, Biotech, Biotechnology, bush administration, ceo, Chairman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Charles O. Holliday Jr., Christine Varney, commodity futures trading commission, contrarian profits, Dan Turner, Department Of Agriculture, Department of Justice, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Dominant Player, Dupont, farmer, Federal Government, Federal Trade Commission, genomics, herbicide tolerant technologies, high impact technologies, Hugh Grant;, Lincoln, Market Commentary, Missouri, Monsanto Corp., Nebraska, nonprofit group, Organization for Competitive, Philip Weiser, Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc., Pont de Nemours & Co.;, president, Reuters, seed maker;, seed products, spokesman, St. Louis, stronger products, technology explosion, United States, unprecedented technology explosion, USD

Prieur’s readings (August 6, 2009)

Prieur du Plessis (August 6th, 2009) Writes:

This post provides links to a number of thought-provoking articles I have read over the past few days that you may also find of interest.

• Richard Thaler (Financial Times): Markets can be wrong and the price is not always right, August 4, 2009. The “efficient market hypothesis” has been a fact of life for economists. Among other things, it says that asset prices will fully reflect available information; and that it is hard for any investor to beat the market after taking risk into account. Has the last year changed how it is viewed.

• Eric Uhlfelder (Advisor Perspectives): Paul Krugman on prospects of recovery, August 4, 2009.

• Economist.com: A concrete problem, July 30, 2009. Banks face another round of property-related bad debts: this time it will be flashy offices, not rundown homes.

• Frank Hornig,

...

China Warns (Again), The Housing Faux-Recovery, Three Sectors to Short and More!

Contrarian Profits (July 29th, 2009) Writes:

China turns it up another notch… now “concerned about the security” of U.S. investments… Chris Mayer tells the “story of today’s economy”… Mainstream celebrates latest home price index… our perceptive on the housing “recovery”… Three market sectors currently detached from reality… The truth emerges… why Ben Bernanke really bailed out Wall Street…

Here it comes, slowly but surely: “We sincerely hope the U.S. fiscal deficit will be reduced, year after year,” China’s Assistant Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao said overnight after talks with Treasury Secretary Geithner. Could he lay it out any more clearly than this? “The Chinese government is a responsible government, and first and foremost our responsibility is the Chinese people, so of course we are concerned about the security of the Chinese assets.”

The Chinese now own over $801 billion in U.S. debt, nearly double their holdings at the start of 2007 and by far the world’s largest

...

Newsletter

No recommendations, either expressed or implied, are being made to buy, sell, hold or short any of the mentioned stocks. No legal, tax or accounting advice is expressed or implied. Always contact your attorney, CPA, or tax advisor before acting on any legal or tax issues. StraightStocks.com is not responsible for the content, products, or services of any of the advertisers on this site. StraightStocks.com receives compensation from advertisers on this blog. Services and products referred to herein are trademarks, registered trademarks, servicemarks, and/or registered servicemarks of their respective trademark or servicemark owners.