A vacation from the stock market

I am away celebrating the holidays. I shall return on January 2nd, 2008. From thence forth, I'll be posting only twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays. This should improve both the length and quality of my postings. Also, many new changes will be forthcoming to the look and content of this blog in the new year. Until then, happy holidays and stay safe.

Nothing biting in the stock market

Maybe it's because I've been preoccupied with Christmas, but I can't seem to find any stocks worth buying. Many stocks are down from their 52-week highs, but are still expensive. I'm going to hang on to my money until things get cheaper, just hang up my spurs until a fat pitch comes along. I might consider adding to my E*Trade(ETFC) position. Citadel and I might be the only ones who believe that this company will survive.

What lies ahead for the economy?

Now is the time of year that every investing/personal finance magazine publishes their "what stocks to buy for the upcoming year issue" or their roundtables. Fortune recommends buying Berkshire Hathaway, while Barron's says sell Buffett
I, however, am asking reader for input. Feel free to comment and make references to the yield curve or other indicator. The more obscure the better.

Will there be a recession in the United States in 2008?

Give your opinion Yes No

Current results

Still no love for Bernanke from the stock market

Major League Baseball got hit with a bat today. The Mitchell Report came out this afternoon and some big names(Roger Clemens, Andy Pettite, Miguel Tejada)were outed as steroid users.

Wall Street is still reeling from not getting its way. Peter Coy wrote a piece on BusinessWeek.com explaining the deficiency of the Fed's latest move.

In fact, the only good news that has anything to do with America is the last few days is the death of Ike Turner.


European stock markets were down sharply. Apparently, no one is impressed by this multinational bailout.

The Nikkei was off 2.5%; It appears that subprime may reach all the way to the land of the rising sun.

So where can an investor find good news? Russia of all places. Putin is moving towards more economic liberalization.

The Dow down 290 or Money Honeys?

I thought about talking about the plunge the averages took after yesterday's quarter point federal funds rate cut by the Fed. Since it's not really that important to me, I will only give it a cursory treatment. The stock market is reacting like a spoiled teenager who was expecting an Audi R8 for their birthday, but instead got a Mercedes C300. They are both beautiful cars, but the former will cost you about $70,000 more. The Fed even threw in lowering the discount rate, the interest rate at which banks lend directly to each other from 5% to 4.75%. Additionally, they didn't leave out the possibility of another cut in the future. Still, Wall Street pouted and whined. In this morning's Wall Street Journal, Morgan Stanley economist David Greenlaw was quoted as saying that clients and traders he'd talked to felt that the Fed had 'fallen way behind the curve.' Then I read Martin Feldstein's interview with Maria Bartiromo in BusinessWeek. Wall Street is calling for a bailout from all corners of the land. Well it appears that the stock market's rich Uncle Ben will provide the cheap money/liquidity it is crying out for.

I am reminded of the words of Colonel Jessep from A Few Good Men as Lt. Kaffee is cross-examining him just before the movie's climax. He said:

"I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon, and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to. "

This is probably how Bernanke feels about Wall Street right about now.

Personally, I'd rather write about the beautiful women talking stocks and finance, however. I decided that it was time to review my previous list of top ten money honeys. After all, Fox has debuted its business channel and I need to incorporate worthy members of their team. That said, here is my new revised money honey list:

1. Liz Claman
2. Erin Burnett
3. Bambi Francisco
4. Alexis Glick
5. Maria Bartiromo
6. Jenna Lee
7. Farnoosh Torabi
8. Brittany Umar
9. Shibani Joshi
10. Sandra Smith

Fox has made a really strong debut, as far as putting attractive women on TV. Liz Claman has made a Mike Huckabee-like surge if you will. Their reporters make up half my list, pushing out the babes of Bloomberg TV. Also, please don't look at these rankings as indicative of a loss of attractiveness on anyone's part. Farnoosh Torabi has fallen in my latest rankings to seventh from third. She is no less beautiful. This merely reflects the strength of the new entrants to the field.
8.

The Dhando Investor

Da Vinci is credited with saying, "simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." This quote definitely applies to Monish Pabrai's slim volume, The Dhando Investor. Quite simply, this is the best investing book that I've read this year. The book is only 183 pages long, but has more insights than a book twice as long. Monish Pabrai is a hedge fund manager based in Southern California who has shamelessly adopted the tenets of Graham, Buffett, and Munger with a great deal of success. The title of the book comes from a Sankskrit word which effectively translates as "business." Therein lies the crux to Pabrai's approach. Like the value investing masters he emulates, he views a stock as a share of a business. Ideally, he wants to buy a simple business with a moat, in a distressed industry, at a discount price. He then generally holds on to the stock for 2-3 years while the market catches up with its intrinsic value. This patient approach has netted his investors 28% returns during the life of his funds. Pabrai is obssessed with minimizing the downside in his investment decisions. He rejects the old saw about low risk, and low return. Pabrai also doesn't trade excessively or own a large number of stocks. He runs a focused portfolio and makes only a few big,infrequent bets whose size are dictated by the Kelly formula. When there is nothing to buy, he buys nothing. When something attractive comes along, he invests with conviction. Simply put, he is a rational investor, the most rare of birds in any market.

Seth tobias

Wow! This is a Shakespearean story. Seth Tobias, a Jupiter, Florida-based hedge fund manager and frequent CNBC guest, was found dead in his pool this morning. He was only 44 years old. Was it a suicide? Did he have a heart attack? Did his new wife murder him? A male go-go dancer named Tiger?