Will ‘Dark Pools’ Be the Capital Markets’ Next Black Holes?
July 10, 2008
Keith Fitz-Gerald submits:
We can almost hear that ominous "Jaws" theme music in the background and can see that huge dorsal fin as it slices threateningly through the water - knowing full well that the real terror is hidden beneath the water’s surface.
But this time around, it’s not a "Great White" that’s sparking our fears; it’s a well-capitalized and broadly based series of secret stock exchanges known as "Dark Pools of Liquidity," "Dark Liquidity," or just "Dark Pools."
Will ‘Dark Pools’ Be the Capital Markets’ Next Black Holes?
Church & Dwight Co Inc (CHD) is a BUY
July 10, 2008
BUY
rating on Church & Dwight Co Inc
(CHD)
Start Price: $53.62
Start Date: 07/10/2008
Church & Dwight Co Inc (CHD) is a BUY
Melco PBL Entertainment Ltd. (MPEL) is a BUY
July 10, 2008
BUY
rating on Melco PBL Entertainment Ltd.
(MPEL)
Start Price: $7.65
Start Date: 07/10/2008
Melco PBL Entertainment Ltd. (MPEL) is a BUY
PHILIP MORRIS INTERNATIONAL INC (PM) is a BUY
July 10, 2008
BUY
rating on PHILIP MORRIS INTERNATIONAL INC
(PM)
Start Price: $53.89
Start Date: 07/10/2008
PHILIP MORRIS INTERNATIONAL INC (PM) is a BUY
IDO Security Inc. video analysis 2 (IDOI, rated BUY)
July 10, 2008
http://cbs4.com/video/?id=45160@wfor.dayport.com
IDO Security Inc. video analysis 2 (IDOI, rated BUY)
On Strip Malls, Strip Mining, and Strippers (SRS, rated BUY)
July 10, 2008
[ The soundtrack to this post is available here: http://underheard.org/~toxic/sp/srs.m3u I highly suggest that you start listening to it now, because I’m going to start this post with the standard disclaimer. ]
But first, a hello to all those new followers. Apparently SocialPicks rejiggered the way they do their ratings, and I’ve found myself pretty consistently up on the leader board. This apparently has attracted a few new people (since it’s certainly not my writing that keeps you coming back). I suspect after this message, some of you will probably immediately unsubscribe. My apologies.
Disclaimer: I use filthy language on the Internet (sorry, Mom). I write terrible things that no decent human being has any business reading. I may have an interest in stocks I write about, but that shouldn’t matter, because nobody should be reading this crap at all, much less paying attention to me when making investment decisions — especially involving a nondiverse derivitives-based index fund. Just look at the picture in my profile.
Ok. Got the music going? Yep, that’s The Grateful Dead, live on 9/11/88 in the Philly Spectrum. Thirteen revolutions around the sun before that 9/11. Shall we roll up a big joint as we go back to a simpler time…
I remind you that numb-nutted mean spirited fuckwit Ronald Reagan was in the White House, but thanks to the Iran Contra scandal, the reality of the AIDS epidemic (and his unforgivable reaction to it), psychic visitors, and the 1986 midterm elections, his power and popularity were finally starting to wane (later we learned that Alzheimers had taken away his lucidity — not that that could possibly explain or excuse his choice for Attorney General .)
Eight years of DooDoo economics and the rampant inflation and unemployment inherent in it had taken their toll across the land. Jesse Helms had the power to declare what was and was not art. Allentown, PA became a ghost town. Everyone was still a little nervous about 10/19/87 . Cocaine became dangerous (but not any harder to find — Just Say No my ass). The national debt? Bigger than ever. But, at least it was clear that the Republicans were completely inept, and completely fucking up the country, and it was time for them to go. Then Gary Hart got his salad tossed by a stripper (on the S.S. Monkey Business, no less)… no wait, she’s a "beauty pagent queen". Meanwhile Micheal Dukakis decided it’d be a good idea to take a joy ride on a fucking tank.
And so, we were blessed with the first George Bush, the first Gulf war, and the recession of 1990-92.
"If the thunder don’t getcha, then the lightning will".
OK, so what else were we blessed with during those joyous times? The suburbs grew, even faster than they had in the 50s (though thankfully, the lawn jockeys were a little less common, even while the suburban demographics stayed the same). See, the CIA was selling crack cocaine in the ghettos, and using the spectre of drug turf wars to scare all the white people out of the cities. Throw in Federal Mandatory Minimums, the SWAT team, N.W.A., and the rise of the televised LAPD high speed chase, and suddenly nobody wanted to live in the urban centers anymore. Property Values plummeted. Tax bases left town. Urban schools started graduating people who were functionally illiterate, and who grew up eating ketchup, because it was a vegetable.
Oooh… good times, those.
Open up the nearest window and shout it with me: " Fuck the suburbs !!". Fuck the GI-Bill that created them. Fuck the white fear that expanded them. Fuck the cold-war bunkers underneath them. Fuck the Me generation that perpetuated the myth that the suburban community full of cookie-cutter 4800 square foot homes was a place to raise well-adjusted children, and was willing to go further and further away to find it.
What’s that, you say? $4.00… nay $5.00 gas is making it hard to keep driving the Escalade over the bridge every morning? Your 21×20′ rec-room costs a fortune to heat? Half the houses in your neighborhood are on the verge of foreclosure? The neighborhood association is raising your fees to cover all the vacancies/deliquencies? Welcome to the American exurb — where the houses are either vacant or underwater, the strip malls are quickly emptying, the transportation costs are higher than the mortgage, and sellers outnumber buyers 10:1.
"Ashes to ashes. All fall down."
Allow me to introduce you to the ProShares UltraShort Real Estate fund. This fund mostly uses derivatives to attempt to return a gain of 2% for every 1% the DJ Real Estate index goes down . Yes, this is another ETF, and this is a bet for the continued decline of the US housing market. I’m behind the bandwagon on this, but it’s better to be late to the party than not to show up at all, right?
And if some douchebag who destroyed some open space to make room for another McMansion is going to lose his house regardless… what’s wrong if you make some coin off his misfortune? Heck, I won’t hold it against you if you even savor it a little more, like you would’ve had you shorted Enron.
The reality of the American housing market is just starting to sink in. If you’ve taken a drive in the distant suburbs recently you’ve seen a lot of "Bank owned" signs pounded into dead lawns. Just wait until all those 5 year ARMs start re-adjusting. Are you nervous about Fannie/Freddie now? Just wait.
[Soundtrack includes two songs, The Wheel and Throwing Stones (those are links to the Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics Pages). It is legal to distribute most live Grateful Dead recordings, including these. The Internet Archive has the entire concert available for streaming.]
And apparently, inline links don’t work here… so here’s a list of things you could’ve clicked on:
http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/5982/meeseposterwashington…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Monday_(1987)
http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0309/lm10.html
http://www.proshares.com/funds/srs.html
http://arts.ucsc.edu/gdead/agdl/wheel.html
http://arts.ucsc.edu/gdead/agdl/throwing.html
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1988-09-11.sbd-mtx.wiley.870…
On Strip Malls, Strip Mining, and Strippers (SRS, rated BUY)
10 Jul 2008 11:40:00 - Top 5 Stocks up on Unusual Volume
July 10, 2008
| Intraday Unusual Volume - Top 5 Up |
| Symbol | Volume % Change |
Price % Change |
News | |
| CPKI | 470% |  11.95% |
news | |
| CENX | 254% | 62.32% |
news | |
| PHLY | 188% | 33.66% |
news | |
| SAFM | 181% | 40.57% |
news | |
| MEND | 178% | 15.15% |
news | |
|
||||
10 Jul 2008 11:40:00 - Top 5 Stocks up on Unusual Volume
Has Ben Bernanke Learned His Lesson?
July 10, 2008
Timothy Siegel submits:
This market plunge makes me optimistic. Why, you may ask. Because I feel that Ben Bernanke will finally learn his lesson, which is, “Don’t talk tough on inflation.” Every single time that Bernanke has talked tough on inflation, the market has tanked.
On June 10th, Bernanke stated, "The Federal Open Market Committee will strongly resist an erosion of longer-term inflation expectations, as an unanchoring of those expectations would be destabilizing for growth as well as for inflation." He followed this up with, "Although activity during the current quarter is likely to be weak, the risk that the economy has entered a substantial downturn appears to have diminished over the past month or so."
Has Ben Bernanke Learned His Lesson?
Dividend Stocks: Watch Those Yields
July 10, 2008
James Picerno submits:
Equity markets are down, which means that dividend yields are up.
It’s a fundamental relationship, and one that endures. No wonder, then, that a growing body of academic research (and a healthy dose of common sense) counsels that the relationship produces valuable clues for strategic-minded investors. In short, raise equity weights when yields are relatively high, and trim that exposure when yields are relatively low. Ideally, such shifts are done gradually, over time, to manage the risk that no one really knows if current yields will remain the apex, or trough, for the cycle.
Dividend Stocks: Watch Those Yields
ADR Pass-Through Fees: Another Hand in Investors’ Pockets
July 10, 2008
David Merkel submits:
One thing that is different about me as a blogger — I not only write about the economy, but I am actively trying to apply my views through investing. So, sometimes readers will get the micro-level aspects of investing. This evening I got the unwelcome surprise of additional fees on some of my ADRs — It seems that the SEC has allowed for the passthrough of custody fees to shareholders.
Now, I know that there are implicit fees on sponsored ADRs, and both of the ADRs that I got hit with fees on are sponsored. My question is this: Did the banks sponsoring the ADRs give up their other fees in order to charge explicit fees to the shareholders? I expect not. I am considering writing to the companies whose shares I own, in order to get them to consider choosing another bank that will not charge fees to its ADR holders.
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