Investment Banks Set to Report Big 4th Quarter

It seem to me that every quarter the leading American investment banks and brokers (LEH, GS, MER, MS, BSC) report earnings, their shares rise only to drift back down until the next reporting period. It would seem this pattern is about to repeat itself yet again this quarter with this quarter's earnings reports which will start mid-December. See this AP article from Forbes.com./images/16689-15956/Wall_Street_Bull.jpg">Photo by Kokogiak Disclosures and Confessions: I own LEH, MS, both directly and indirectly as part of executive compensation plans. I have traded MS, LEH, MER and GS in the past ...

Click to read more ...

The General, General Electric (GE) That Is: Too Big To Be Ignored

General Electric (GE) is huge. And while a massive portion of their earnings comes from being a financial company dressed in the bond rating of an industrial conglomerate, they still represent one of the largest companies in the US on almost every benchmark. If you want exposure to the US market it's hard to ignore GE.Friday, I sold short

Click to read more ...

Seaspan (SSW): An Update

I'm a fan of income. I'm a fan of corporate entities that pay a minimal amount to management.I'm also a fan of global trade. Thus it might come as no suprise that I'm a big fan of Seaspan (SSW) and shipping in general. SSW is structured as a REIT and thus must pay out most of it's income in order to avoid corporate taxes. A structure I agree with since its forces citizens to pay their taxes right away. Anyway, here's another blog by Larry MacDonald about Seaspan. I don't know where he gets ...

Click to read more ...

Selling Mastercard (MA)

Sold half my MasterCard Inc (MA) position at $89.43. The stock has nearly doubled since I bought it back on June 2nd ($46.98). It's even gone up further since I sold short puts on July 24th. When I bough the stock I thought I was buying a company with a forward p/e of 17. And while analysts have increased earning forcasts, this company is not growing like Starbucks (SBUX) or Google (GOOG). Why should I pay such a high multiple for a financial services company that has held a duopoly* for so long. And ...

Click to read more ...

Bank Of America Video From Corporate Conference Covers U2 To Motivate The Corporate Tools.

These corporate gathers were the worst part of my corporate career. And there was always someone really talented at singing, video production,comedy or poetry who did something like this with their talent. It always made me sick. Just like this video does. I have never been more proud to be out of the corporate world. ...

Click to read more ...

Midterm 2006 Election TV Coverage Review

Our Panelists came up with the following ranking of the Mid Term Election TV coverage:1st Place: CNN - these guys

Click to read more ...

Annaly Capital Management (NLY) Income Play With Options

I did one of my favorite options plays on this mortgage bond company structured as a REIT. Annaly buys pools of mortgages and borrows short term to fund them. The flattening of the US yield curve has been a disaster for their earning and portfolio value the stock is down xx% in the last two years. However, I feel this is the best managed and most transparent of all mortgage REITs. I also feel that this REIT is fairly valued but would buy more at lower prices and am happy to sell and higher prices. Thus ...

Click to read more ...

Tax Loss Selling Candidates (DELL and YAHOO)

On Monday's I usually like to look over my portfolio for sale candidates. I'm look ahead of tax-loss selling season for individuals (which gets going around the second week of November and usually lasts until the end of the year). Since many of the widely held stocks are up on the year and active traders likely have big gains, I wanted to look for widely held and actively traded stocks that are down on the year - and down significantly from their highs.Two stocks that qualify in this regard that I hold are Dell Inc (DELL) and Yahoo ...

Click to read more ...

Trade Log: Recent Trades Featured by My Strategic Themes

Recent Trades (since last trade log) that I might have forgotten to mention. I also was selling some old stock received as part of executive compensation at my previous employers. As I've previously mentioned I don't like to detail trades from these companies.Sold PBF at $13.49Sold LQD at $105.91Sold EOP at $41.35Bought TIP at $99.30Bought July 2116 Maturity US TReasury Inflation Indexed Bonds at Government AuctionBought RYN at $39.21Sold Short Andarko (APC) May 35 Puts at $0.85Bought Coke (KO) at $46.81Bought Yum Brands (YUM) at $58.00Bought Diageo (DEO) at $72.87 (mentioned here)Bought Conoco Phillips (COP) at 60.42 (mentioned ...

Click to read more ...

Liquidation of S&P500 Strangles from September 29th.

I sold out the SP500 Strangles Mentioned on September 29th. Here is the blog entry:"On the S&P500 I used options on futures (futures quote 1347.50):Paid $27.50 for December 1350 CallsPaid $27.50 for December 1345 PutsTotal: $55.00.My plan is to liquidate these potions at some point in October. I will do it in the middle of some kind of panic. If there isn't a panic then I plan to liquidate them by the end of the month."Today's Trade:Sold the S and P 500 index strangles "On the S&P500 I used options on futures (futures quote 1347.50):Sold December 1350 ...

Click to read more ...