Clipmarks | muckdog's clips

Are Chinese Gymnists Too Young?

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:00:43 GMT

clipped by: muckdog
clipper's remarks: They look like little kids compared to their counterparts from other countries.

Clip Source: sportsillustrated.cnn.com

Swift: The consensus of those I have talked to is that at least two, three or maybe as many as four are younger than 16. If they are not younger than 16, then they are sick and in danger. There is a 68-pound girl (Deng Linlin) on that team is claiming to be 16 years old. That is not a healthy body. If she is 16 and weighs 68 pounds, someone ought to put her in a hospital. The Romanians, the Russians and the Americans all look age appropriate. The only country that apparently is cheating is China.

The Great Secret: Dollar Rallying

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 21:40:20 GMT

clipped by: muckdog
clipper's remarks: Dollar making some major gains the past year.

Clip Source: blogs.wsj.com

The Dollar’s Renewed Popularity

The euro recently sank as far as $1.5009, pressured by various indicators that things are getting gloomy in the euro zone – from a surprise contraction in Italian second-quarter GDP to comments made Thursday by ECB President Jean Claude Trichet, who admitted the central bank is watching downside risks to growth. He held rates Thursday at 4.25%, but that could mean a cut in is the works soon, further pressuring the single currency against the dollar. Just a few weeks ago, on July 15, the euro had reached a new high above the $1.60 mark.

In the U.K., the pound recently fell to its lowest point in almost two years, $1.9147. Its 5% interest rate — which the Bank of England also left alone yesterday — is now “a very, very big target for the bears,” said Ashraf Laidi, chief forex strategist at CMC Markets. “There is more room for interest-rate cuts and for the pound to decline.”

John Edwards Admits to Affair

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 21:06:49 GMT

clipped by: muckdog
clipper's remarks: I doubt any of us are shocked by this. But this guy seems to be one of the bigger hypocrits out there. Not just the affair, but the hedge fund stuff, two Americas, etc..

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards on Friday admitted to an extramarital affair while his wife was battling cancer. He denied fathering the woman's daughter. Edwards told ABC News that he lied repeatedly about the affair with 42-year-old Rielle Hunter but said that he didn't love her

"I want to see our party lead on the great moral issues — yes, me a Democrat using that word — the great moral issues that face our country," Edwards tells the crowd. "If we want to live in a moral, honest just America and if we want to live in a moral and just world, we can't wait for somebody else to do it. We have to do it."

Bullish Sentiment Trends Lower

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 21:01:29 GMT

clipped by: muckdog
clipper's remarks: Sentiment never matters until it does. And it always looks obvious in retrospect. Here we have the AAII sentiment numbers showing huge investor pessimism.

Clip Source: seekingalpha.com

The trend in bullish investor sentiment, as reported by the American Association of Individual Investors, continues lower as noted in the chart below. The bullish sentiment level declined to 35.61% versus last week's level of 40.00%. The 8-period moving average of the bullishness level remains just above 30%. The bull/bear spread came in at -7% this week versus -1% last week.

Big Mac Attack

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 18:33:02 GMT

clipped by: muckdog
clipper's remarks: "I'll take foods I haven't eaten for over a decade, Alex."

Sounds good, though. These sorts of stocks have been rallying a bit because traders look for "safe harbors" during rough economic times.

Clip Source: online.wsj.com

Big Mac, Breakfast Items Boosts McDonald's Sales

McDonald's Corp. reported an 8% increase in July global same-store sales as results increased across all regions, including 6.7% in the U.S. due to a focus on breakfast, chicken, beverages and the Big Mac sandwich.

Sprint's Customers Defect

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 21:10:18 GMT

clipped by: muckdog
clipper's remarks: Well, I don't know why the article just doesn't say "Apple iPhone." Isn't that where the high-end customers are going?

Clip Source: www.marketwatch.com

Sprint posts loss as customers defect

Yet the expected weakness in the current quarter shows that much more work needs to be done before Sprint can compete again on a level playing field with AT&T and Verizon.

Churn at Sprint, for example, is still nearly double the rate of industry leader Verizon and it's expected to rise slightly in the third quarter.

"We still have a lot of room to improve over time in reducing churn," Hesse said.

What's more, the average amount each customer pays for monthly service continues to shrink, down 7% to $56 from the year-ago period. The good news: monthly spending remained unchanged from the 2008 first quarter, as Sprint sold more data services such as text messaging and Internet access.

In total, Sprint lost a net 901,000 subscribers in the second quarter, including less profitable prepaid and wholesale customers. Sprint ended the period with 51.9 million mobile users.

Freddie Mac Attack

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:46:48 GMT

clipped by: muckdog
clipper's remarks: Hoo, that's horrible. A consensus 41 cent loss to an actual $1.63 loss? So it's cutting the dividend by 5-cents and also plans on selling $5.5B in stock. Any takers? LOL.

Clip Source: www.investors.com

Freddie Mac (FRE) tumbled 19% in the pre-market after it posted a much wider-than-expected loss. The mortgage giant delivered a Q2 loss of $1.63 a share, down from a year-ago profit of 96 cents. Analysts expected a loss of 41 cents. Its provision for credit losses more than doubled to $2.5 billion from $1.2 billion in the first quarter, due to increases in loan delinquencies and foreclosures. In order to preserve capital, the government-sponsored enterprise also plans to cut its dividend to a nickel a share, down from a quarter. And it plans to sell $5.5 billion in stock.

Fellow government-sponsored mortgage lender Fannie Mae (FNM) slumped 14% in the pre-open. It reports earnings on Friday. Views are for a loss of 68 cents a share.

Alien Contact and Government Cover-up!

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 21:51:44 GMT

clipped by: muckdog
clipper's remarks: Maybe the Govt. is in on it.

The truth is out there somewhere

Clip Source: www.news.com.au

FORMER NASA astronaut and moon-walker Dr Edgar Mitchell - a veteran of the Apollo 14 mission - has stunningly claimed aliens exist.

And he says extra-terrestrials have visited Earth on several occasions - but the alien contact has been repeatedly covered up by governments for six decades.

Dr Mitchell, 77, said during a radio interview that sources at the space agency who had had contact with aliens described the beings as 'little people who look strange to us.'

He said supposedly real-life ET's were similar to the traditional image of a small frame, large eyes and head.

Chillingly, he claimed our technology is "not nearly as sophisticated" as theirs and "had they been hostile", he warned "we would be been gone by now".

Netflix Continues to Grow

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 21:29:37 GMT

clipped by: muckdog
clipper's remarks: Love Netflix. I have the Roku streaming box hooked up to the TV. I've mostly watched older classic movies and some stuff I missed along the way. One stinker was Mark Hamill in 1993's Time Runner. Avoid at all costs. I didn't make it all the way through it.

Clip Source: blogs.barrons.com

Netflix added 1.38 million subscribers in the quarter, up 35% from a year earlier, it said, for a total of 8.4 million subscribers. Compared to the previous quarter, it represents only a 2% increase.

Netflix is clearly expecting a pick-up in sequential subscriber additions. The company said it will add between 700,000 and 1.3 million more subscribers by over the next two quarters, to end the year with a total of as many as 9.7 million subs.

Apparently, the cost to add subscribers wasn’t terribly punishing this quarter, contrary to what some predicted: gross profit as a percentage of sales rose from the prior quarter’s 31.7% to 31.8%, though that is down from the year earlier’s 35%. Free cash flow nearly doubled year-over-year to $12.5 million, the company said.

More on Steve Jobs' Health

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 05:59:12 GMT

clipped by: muckdog
clipper's remarks: Read the link for pictures and the history of his ailment.

Clip Source: apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com

Steve Jobs’ health: What’s going on

Recession Odds Down to 17%

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 05:52:43 GMT

clipped by: muckdog
clipper's remarks: We haven't had even one quarter of negative GDP, and estimates for the next GDP release are coming in above 2%.

Clip Source: www.ibdeditorials.com

But the prevailing gloomy consumer sentiment seems to be at odds with what's actually happening right now in the economy, at least as far as the data go.

John McCain's adviser, economist and former Sen. Phil Gramm, got canned for suggesting that the only recession we had was "mental."

Turns out, he's right.

The U.S. in the second quarter, while not booming, seems to be growing quite nicely, thank you. Not even close to recession.

A consensus estimate of economists by Bloomberg puts second-quarter GDP at about 2.2%. First Trust Advisors' Brian Wesbury, who is admittedly at the extreme end of the expectations spectrum, thinks GDP growth will be 3%.

GM and Utilities to build Car Charging Infrastructure

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:22:07 GMT

clipped by: muckdog
clipper's remarks: The key part mentioned is "peak hours." If we went with Al Gore's windmills and solar panels, we'd be facing blackouts and brownouts. We need more reliable electricity from nuclear power to do it.

Clip Source: www.engadget.com

General Motors has already gotten a bit of cash from the US Department of Energy to further the development of plug-in hybrids, and it now looks like it's taking things one step further on another initiative, with it teaming up with the Electric Power Research Institute and 30 utilities in 37 states to produce a charging infrastructure for electric cars. Among other things, they'll be working to develop an affordable, reliable electricity source that's weather-proof and child-proof, which they say could be installed in places like public garages, curbside meters, or workplace parking lots. The utility companies, in particular, will also apparently be working to ensure that the grid doesn't get overwhelmed during peak hours. All that, GM says, will be done by 2010, which just happens to coincide with the launch of its much-touted Volt hybrid.

Tropical Storm Pushing Oil Over $130 Again

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 06:31:26 GMT

clipped by: muckdog
clipper's remarks: Drat.

Clip Source: www.investors.com

Fears that a tropical storm could hit U.S. offshore oil installations brought crude oil prices back above the key bullish mark of $130 a barrel Monday, helping firm gold and industrial metals too.

Tags: energy, oil, hurricanes

Value Line's VLMAP Turns Bullish

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 06:24:30 GMT

clipped by: muckdog
clipper's remarks: As the article mentions, Dan Seiver's PAD System Report investment newsletter bases his market timing model almost exclusively on the VLMAP.

Clip Source: www.marketwatch.com

Today, I want to focus on another explanation for the rally that, at least to me, is more plausible: A valuation indicator maintained by Value Line, Inc. (VALU:

Value Line Inc

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3:59pm 07/21/2008
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Congress to Raise Gas Tax?

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 01:27:17 GMT

clipped by: muckdog
clipper's remarks: Boy, this sure seems like a bad time to bring up this idea. Nice job, Congress.

Clip Source: www.foxnews.com

The political vision of a summer gas tax holiday died a quick death in Congress, losing to a view that federal excise taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel — far from dropping — will have to go up if they go anywhere.

Now, lawmakers quietly are talking about raising fuel taxes by a dime from the current 18.4 cents a gallon on gasoline and 24.3 cents on diesel fuel.

The fuel taxes go into the Highway Trust Fund, which is used for road construction and repair and mass transit. Depriving the 52-year-old Highway Trust Fund of $9 billion at a time when it is heading into the red doomed the notion of a gas tax holiday in Congress.

Tags: gas, tax