The markets had mixed results today, as the NASDAQ was up 2.27 points to close at 1646.12, while the other two major indices were down for the day.  The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones finished down 0.77% and 1.04% respectively.  It was a good day for oil as it settled up at $48.85, as did gold, settling at $892.50.  Prices on the 10-year Treasury fell, closing with a yield of 2.942%. 

In earnings news, Yahoo [YHOO: 14.48, +0.10 (+0.70%)] reported earnings after hours yesterday, announcing that net income fell to $117.6 million from $537 million a year ago.  Net revenues fell to $1.58 billion from $1.81 billion, as the Sunnyvale, Calif. company saw advertising revenue fall over -3% percent in the first quarter.  These results did not fare well for CEO Carol Bartz, who took over for Jerry Yang earlier this year, as she has been under pressure from shareholders, who are still

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Notes from the Investment Underground Friday, March 20, 2008 Portland, Oregon, USA

Foreigners gang up on the dollar… Ben’s bitter irony… A chartist’s view on the buck… Why the Fed’s “quantitative easing” is a game changer… Investing in the “poor man’s gold”… And more!..

[Your Notes editor will be spending the day in battling Argentine bureaucracy. (It’s a long story. But basically I am trying to get residency down here.) So, today I’ll be leaving you in the capable hands of Crisis Strategy Alert senior analyst Charles Delvalle.]

*** Is this the end of the buck?

Next week a UN panel will recommend that the world drop the US dollar as the reserve currency and instead use a shared basket of currencies.

This from Reuters:

Currency specialist Avinash Persaud, a member of the panel of experts, told a Reuters ...

My favorite CEO to hate was the ex-CEO of Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO), Jerry Yang.

Jerry Yang After Saying "No" to Microsoft's Offer

This is a guy who sucked so many eggs, that he decided to say “no” to Microsoft’s buyout offer, even though they were offering a MASSIVE premium to Yahoo’s stock price.

Just so you know, that offer was to buy Yahoo for over $40 a share. At the time of the offer, it was trading under $30 a share. Today, Yahoo trades at $12.

It’s not that shocking that Jerry Yang was compelled to give up his position at Yahoo. After all, he lost shareholders one of the most lucrative paydays ever (right as the economy was plummeting).

But believe me when I say that Jerry Yang leaving is good news.

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What’s up at Yahoo! (YHOO)

It seems strange that a company with little positive news and a limited outlook in a sector surrounded by sharp-toothed competition would be doing well. But that’s just what Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) has been doing over the past two weeks.

With the arrival of its new CEO, Carol Bartz, investors seem to have given YHOO another shot. And they’ve given her some distance after disastrous founder/CEO Jerry Yang’s “crash and burn.”

Even though Bartz hasn’t made any definitive statements of her specific intent, the stock has done well. Over the past two weeks Yahoo! has moved up almost 20% while the Nasdaq has added only 3.5%. Clearly investors expect better results from her, and are hoping for it.

This comes as Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) circle their wagons – And circle like

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Yahoo Inc (YHOO) named Carol Bartz, 60, chairwoman of Autodesk Inc. (ADSK), its new chief executive following the departure of former company chief and co-founder Jerry Yang, who announced in November he would step down.

Bartz served as Autodesk’s president and CEO for 14 years before stepping down from the post in April 2006. She remained chairwoman, and will continue in that role until Autodesk fills the position.

“We are very excited to have Carol Bartz leading Yahoo into its next era of growth. She is the exact combination of seasoned technology executive and savvy leader that the Board was looking for, and we are thrilled to have attracted such a world-class talent to Yahoo,” Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock said in a statement.

“The Board is united in its view that her energetic and decisive leadership style, coupled with a proven track record of driving growth,

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After months of voicing a strong opinion on the future of Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO), Carl Icahn dumped an additional $67 million on the Internet services provider in a three-day purchase that immediately spurred speculation a new company CEO will soon be named to replace current Yahoo! CEO and co-founder Jerry Yang.

Earlier this month Yang announced he will step down as soon as the board of directors finds his replacement. According to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Icahn gobbled up 6.8 million shares at about $9.92 each, ramping his stake in the company to 5.5 percent. Shares of Yahoo started an early ascent, moving up 8.88 percent to close at $11.52 Friday. Investors are also biting on rumors there may another round of talks regarding a merger with Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) in the upcoming months.

Earlier this summer, when Yahoo’s board of directors rejected a $47.5 billion

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Jerry Yang, Yahoo Inc.’s (YHOO) co-founder and chief executive officer, today (Tuesday) stepped down from his post under heavy shareholder pressure. Yang will return to his former role as board member and “Chief Yahoo!” – a non-so-flattering, if not ironic, title considering the heavy criticism he took in the past year – upon the appointment of his replacement.

Yang was elected CEO in June 2007, his second go-around at that post. Since then, Yahoo’s market value has fallen by more than $20 billion, according to Bloomberg.

To be fair, Yahoo was already losing its market share to Google Inc. (GOOG) and a healthy percent of its share value as a result.

But Yang was brought back to fix that.

There was a deep feeling within Yahoo’s ranks that Yang wasn’t fit to continue leading the company out of the mire – or least into a

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After working in Silicon Valley for 15 years, I developed this theory called “The Myth of Empowerment.” While the Myth of Empowerment wasn’t intended to act as a qualitative indicator for stock picking, it turns out that it could easily be applied to the decline of Yahoo (Nasdaq:YHOO) - with the fallout inflicting damage on Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT).

The one thing you notice about Silicon Valley is the meetings. They multiply like a fungus. Once inside, you become intoxicated from the heady fumes of whiteboard markers, since the entire culture seems incapable of explaining anything without standing in front of the room to draw organizational charts. Ditto for PowerPoint.

And so the Myth of Empowerment came into being after years of sitting in conference rooms listening to these pretentious windbags. As the Myth

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Highlighted stocks include Baidu.com (BIDU), Sohu.com (SOHU), United Online (UNTD) and Yahoo (YHOO).

Key Points: Despite the resignation of Jerry Yang, forecasts are trending downward for Yahoo Other Internet companies are doing well, however, such as Sohu.com and United Online

Without Merger, Few Positive Catalysts For Yahoo Over The Short-Term

Yesterday, Yahoo (YHOO) announced the resignation of Jerry Yang from the CEO post. The announcement was met with cheer as shares rose by nearly a buck to $11.55.

Playing a role in the upward move were speculators hoping for renewed merger talks with Microsoft (MSFT). The problem is that there is no guarantee that a merger will occur.

Without a merger, there are few catalysts for the stock. Naming a well-respected outsider as a CEO might help, but the company is struggling with both tough competition and a weak economy.

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Yahoo co-founder and CEO Jerry Yang thinks so. He believes that a Microsoft purchase of Yahoo would be a wise choice for the operating system giant. Jerry Yang spoke at the prestigious Web 2.0 event in San Francisco and openly expressed his opinions to an interviewer. “To this day, I believe the best thing for Microsoft to do is to buy Yahoo,” he said. While there are no talks happening at the moment, he continued by stating that the board of directors and himself would “remain open to everything.”

Now let’s take this idea one step farther. What does this potentially mean?

Microsoft’s last talks fell apart under unknown circumstances, but the potential deal was anywhere from $33-$37 a share. If Microsoft places their bid, it would most likely be under the reduced share prices of today, hovering around the $13 mark. Shareholders might see a bump in Yahoo’s stock price, which

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