Sunday, July 5, 2009

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Rogue trades made last Thursday cost London broker PVM Oil Futures $10M. BBC News

Gasoline ETF may ease pain at the pump (UGA) - MarketWatch. I was long UGA from early April to catch the seasonal move, and it was up 55% by June, but now the trend is weakening and I decided to bail last Thursday. Apparently a lot of other people had the same idea and we had to sacrifice a good bite of our profits to get out. But gasoline trends well and UGA has become a nice liquid trading vehicle. Heating oil also trends well, but unfortunately UHN, the companion ETF for heating oil, is not active enough to trade safely. UGA invests in the front contract and rolls forward monthly so contango can provide some headwind during uptrends. Also, this ETF can create tax issues so UGA is best traded in a tax-sheltered account.

White Supremacists and Anti-Semites Plan to Recruit at July 4 Tea Parties. (I am sure they will not even try to recruit paranoid anti-defamationists!) The Anti-Defamation League

Zionist pubes

Jew Jitsu

The Great American Bubble Machine: Matt Taibbi on how Goldman Sachs has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression. RollingStone

Indian Curry Breaks Up Dementia Plaques In Mice. InventorSpot

The smell of fear is real and it is contagious. A study, conducted by Bettina Pause and colleagues at the University of Dusseldorf in Germany, suggests that people detect whether others are scared by picking up chemicals they release from their bodies. Times of India

Samoa provokes fury by switching driving to the left side of the road. Telegraph

Gerardine Botte of Ohio University is using an electrolytic approach to produce hydrogen from urine at a fraction of the cost of producing hydrogen from water. PhysOrg

Amsterdam city council considering bank help for prostitutes. Reuters

MarryYourPet - The pet and people wedding specialists. "So you've found your partner for life, only thing is - he's an animal. Not just that he leaves hair in the bath and has abominable table manners, but that really he's an animal, i.e. with feathers, scales or whatnot. But forget his facial hair. So what if he has an overabundance of legs, or must hibernate each winter? All that matters is that you adore him. So go on, if you really love him and you're in this for life, isn't it time you married your pet?"

Man in India Marries Dog to Atone for Stoning to Death Mating Canines. FOXNews

Three circus elephants scored a decisive victory over three human competitive eaters at a cross-species eating contest Friday, chomping down on 505 hot dog buns in six minutes. The humans forced down only 143 buns in the bout at Brooklyn's Coney Island. The Associated Press

Vulva Portrait Pendant - $20.00 at VulvaLoveLovely. "Celebrate your own beauty. After purchasing send me a convo describing your Vagina: the shape of your inner and outer labia, colors, how much or how little your inner labia extend out from your outer labia, how well hidden your clitoris is, is it heavily hooded or can you see it fairly easily? For those who are not afraid to show off their Vagina and want a perfect portrait of their Vagina, send 2-3 pictures along with the description. I will then send you a convo with a picture of all of the chains I currently have in stock attached so you can pick the one you like. Never made with a mold. The pendant on this necklace will measure about 2" x 1". Each pendant is coated with a protective glaze."

17 baggies of cocaine found in Negro woman's buttocks. 14WFIE.com

Photo of "Niggaz" gas station in Nigde, Turkey. (Not affiliated with "Nigaz" of Nigeria.) Flickr

"I was going to have a few comments about John Edwards but you have to go into rehab if you use the word faggot." - Ann Coulter

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Saturday, July 4, 2009

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Bombs bursting in air: If North Korea nuked Hawaii, the thermal, shockwave and radioactive fallout would look something like this. (3 images) Gizmodo

Defensive rotations during June. "Three of June's best performers are defensive staples (XLP), healthcare (XLV), and utilities (XLU). All of those rotation shifts are consistent with a much-needed correction in a market that's risen too far too fast." John Murphy, ChartWatchers

India Joins Russia, China in Questioning U.S. Dollar Dominance - Bloomberg

A sexist suffers the consequences of hateful speech.

O.K., Thursday’s jobs report settles it. We’re going to need a bigger stimulus. But does the president know that? Paul Krugman, NYTimes

Beware: Microsoft is Changing Users' Default Search Engine without permission. Slashdot Technology

Stock market investors keen to make the worst of the bad news: "Investors are no longer ignoring sell signals; they are seeking them out." Telegraph.co.uk

Ann Coulter - a real woman: smart, cute, articulate, and iconoclastic. 2007 photo

"If we took away women's right to vote, we'd never have to worry about another Democrat president. It's kind of a pipe dream, it's a personal fantasy of mine, but I don't think it's going to happen. And it is a good way of making the point that women are voting so stupidly, at least single women. It also makes the point, it is kind of embarrassing, the Democratic Party ought to be hanging its head in shame, that it has so much difficulty getting men to vote for it. I mean, you do see it's the party of women and 'We'll pay for health care and tuition and day care -- and here, what else can we give you, soccer moms?'" - Ann Coulter

Staff of design and marketing firm work naked on Fridays to improve morale. Telegraph.co.uk

Obama: A Profile in Cowardice. Daniel Greenfield for Canada Free Press

Queen asks Britain for a pay raise. The Royal Family is a very expensive habit! smh.com.au

A worker at the National Library of Scotland has been reprimanded for displaying the Scottish national flag on his desk on the basis that the display may be considered "racist". TransCosmic

Scottish driver spends 2 days in jail and pays £150 fine for "revving engine in a racist manner'. The Sunday Mail

Racist doll pricing. FAIL Blog

Nigaz name sparks racism debate. Russia's Gazprom and Nigeria's state-operated NNPC formed a new company, Nigaz, last week. "Nigerians No Nigaz", a group formed on the social networking site Facebook, says the name could be pronounced in a way offensive to black people. BBC News

Photo: Specimens of "watermelon tourmaline" from Nigeria.

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Friday, July 3, 2009

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Barron’s Confidence Index Indicates Bottoming for Equities. "However, in the short term I still maintain it is quite likely that markets could consolidate further and possibly retrace more of the prior gains." Prieur du Plessis on Seeking Alpha

The stock market's short-term technical picture is definitely turning bearish. Kevin's Market Blog

Why Big Oil Declined Iraq's Riches: Energy companies were put off by the prices demanded by the Iraqi government, and by continuing concerns over the security situation in the country. TIME

A Tennessee man is facing charges of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor for affixing an image of a child's face to an image of an adult woman's body. CNN.com

face ripper [fays rip-per] - noun. 1. a market advance with extreme intensity, so much so that it takes skin and hair along with it from the facial area. Difficult to detect in advance, but upon arrival the feeling is instantaneously recognized. 2. a common situation typically experienced by those that are "short in the hole". Team LBR

David Swensen Changes His Portfolio Allocations. "due to economic conditions" Swensen lowered REITs from 20% to 15% and raised Emerging Markets from 5% to 10%.

Manhattan apartment prices drop for first time since 2002. Median price drop 18.5%. Bloomberg

Chewing Gum Sculptures by Maurizio Savini

23% of Americans cannot name a single scientist, living or dead. virology.ws

Canadian HIV vaccine ready for human tests. CBC.ca

Sign of the times: NYSE Cuts Trade Times to 5 Milliseconds, but even after the speed boost, continues to lag behind competitors. WSJ

Beneficial to young and old: Cultivate the Rainier Beer habit.

Gold Lags the Euro. Don't Ignore This Chart!

Summer Retail Gasoline Prices Have Peaked, AAA Says. That's a pretty bold prediction! Bloomberg

Stimulus Spending: Breakdown by States. Scroll down for graphic. WSJ

Photos of jewelry by design student Anna Schwamborn, made from the hair and cremains of deceased loved ones.

US has noooo money for California, but they do have $2.775 billion for Israel, the Pirates of the Mediterranean! Campaign For Liberty

Seeking Real Estate Exposure? Consider the Timber ETF (CUT). It should also be noted that lumber futures have excellent trending characteristics, and this appears to be carrying over to CUT. The ETF's trading volume is light, but acceptable, and improving. Carneades on Seeking Alpha

Live graph of download traffic for Firefox 3.5. Looks like we will hit 10M downloads some time this weekend. Mozilla.com

A tough way to wake up: Man stabbed while sleepwalking. Kansas City Star

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Thursday, July 2, 2009

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7 Reasons Why the Loonie Will Trounce the Dollar. We'll see. The strong upward trend expired about a month ago and since then FXC has been sinking steadily downward. myWealth.com on Seeking Alpha

Banks Falling 23% Since May Foreshadow S&P 500 Slump. Slumps in bank stocks have indeed preeeded all previous declines in the S&P 500 since 2006, and in fact we have a pretty good slump going right now. Bloomberg

Bad News for Banks: Mortgage Apps at 7 Month Low - Seeking Alpha

And the next great bubble will be? Several of the more obvious suspects. The Pragmatic Capitalist

India's security forces have invented fiery-hot but non-lethal chili grenades to control rioters. Sky News

Head and Shoulders Action Almost Perfect - Trader Mark on Seeking Alpha. A little too perfect, in my opinion. Nevertheless, "S&P 880 is the line in the sand."

Most asset classes have been moving in tandem lately, and "High correlations are a signal to start treating market signals with extreme prejudice." Felix Salmon

7 top investment sites to help superpower your research. No keepers, for me at least, but well worth a look. New Rules of Investing

Somali citizens watch while four men who have been convicted of theft by a Sharia court have their hands and feet chopped off. BBC News

VIX and More: Timing of VIX Bottom. "Based on a number of factors, including my recent comments in VIX at Seasonal Cycle Low, I believe there is a very good chance the VIX may put in an intermediate-term bottom either today or tomorrow (Weds. or Thurs.)."

Fed’s Yellen Says Interest Rates May Stay Near Zero for Years. Yellen’s comments go beyond those made by other policy makers after a June 23-24 meeting, when they said the federal funds rate will likely stay at “exceptionally low levels” for “an extended period.” Bloomberg

"ETFs completely dominate the list of securities most upgraded over the last quarter by those advisers who are making the most money right now. In fact, not one individual stock makes it onto this list; nor does any open-end mutual fund." Mark Hulbert on MarketWatch

Liberals and homosexual activists were outraged by this gay exorcism video.

New York City Council Members Walk Out On Michael Jackson Moment Of Silence - The Awl. "The man was probably a serial pedophile, may have well died of a drug overdose… [he] has multiple sealed settlements with the families of young boys. What exactly is it that we’re exalting?" - Councilman Lew Fidler.

End-of-Quarter Effect: "evidence suggests some systematic strength the first few days after ends of quarters bracketed by weakness or doldrums before and after, with effects small compared to daily return variability. The fourth quarter pattern is the strongest and most distinctive." CXOAG Investing Notes

$70 Oil: The New Normal? December 2015 futures contracts have traded above $66.77 since September 2008, despite market turmoil and the complete collapse of spot oil to under $40 a barrel. BusinessWeek

Mission accomplished! Six Iraqi oil fields holding 5 billion barrels of oil set to be auctioned to Shell, Exxon, and BP the same day that US troops are to be withdrawn from Iraqi cities. wsws.org

"If you ask a Jew whether he supports equality with the Arabs, he will say: 'Certainly', and if you ask if he supports kicking all the Arabs out of here, he will say: 'Certainly'. He sees no contradiction between the two." - Aharon Barak, former President of the Supreme Court of Israel

Israeli cat showing his support for Palestinian cats.

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Wednesday, July 1, 2009

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Israel Attacks Gaza Aid Ship. 21 human rights workers including former U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney were kidnapped. Charting Stocks

VIX Sell Signal - Cobra's Market View. "VIX rose from under BB lower boundary into BB, triggering a well known short-term sell signal. From below chart we can see that the signals worked so far so good ever since the 2008 bear market."

Trivia Question: Who's France's Largest Private Employer? CrossingWallStreet

Asking a favour? Talk to the person's right ear. newslite.tv

Understanding the volume-volatility connection: "When volume decreases, it means that the large, directional players in the market are relatively absent. What remains are market makers and scalpers who play for ticks within narrow ranges, making money between bids and offers." TraderFeed

Soaring Serbia Stocks Signal Demise of BRIC Rally. Frontier markets often outperform near the end. Bloomberg

It’s All About Bandwidth, Dumbass: "it would be a wise thing for many of you jelly fish eaters to get long stocks that provide network equipment to AT&T Inc. (T: 24.72 -1.98%) . Some names to look at: ADTRAN, Inc. (ADTN: 21.50 +0.09%) , TEKELEC (TKLC: 16.82 -0.12%) , Ceragon Networks Ltd. (CRNT: 6.68 -1.62%) . . . ibankcoin

WW-III Propaganda Poster: Loose Tweets Sink Fleets. Flickr

Monkey 'stock market' prone to fluctuations too - New Scientist

A Triple Bottom Breakdown for Sherwin Williams (SHW) - Arthur Hill, Don't Ignore This Chart!

Marijuana Vendors Lobby To Pay Higher Taxes - NPR

Russian Luxury Yachts Offer Pirate Murdering Cruises. "Wealthy punters pay £3,500 per day to patrol the most dangerous waters in the world hoping to be attacked by raiders. When attacked, they retaliate with grenade launchers, machine guns and rocket launchers. Passengers, who can pay an extra £5 a day for an AK-47 machine gun and £7 for 100 rounds of ammo, are also protected by a squad of ex special forces troops." Impact Lab

Farmers plant more corn and soybeans than expected in 2009. Newsvine

Care to speculate on the direction of home prices? MacroShares has been working on developing leveraged ETFs that track the S&P/Case-Shiller 10-City Composite Median Home Price index, and on Tuesday they started trading. UMM tracks 3 times the S&P/Case-Shiller 10-City Median Home Price index, while DMM tracks 3 times the inverse of the index. Bespoke Investment Group

How a British Rum Maker Got a $2.7 Billion Payout from TARP - Crooks and Liars

Monkey see, monkey do; monkey pee all over the President of Zambia. YouTube

Fun Nigger Fact #23 - Niggers Are Retarded. Shelly's Niggermania

Soaking is Key for Perfect Homemade French Fries - Lifehacker

Undercover investigation of 17 LA vegan restaurants: 7 failed. Quarrygirl.com

A 35,000-year-old flute has been discovered in Germany which experts say it the world's oldest musical instrument. newslite.tv

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Tuesday, June 30, 2009

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Cobra's Market View: 06/29/2009 After Bell Quick Summary. "Because CPC < 0.8, so there’re 81% chances the market will close in green tomorrow and also a firework setup has triggered."

The 10 worst US cities for road rage: "New York City has unseated Miami to earn the dubious distinction as this year’s worst US city for road rage" Marketing Charts

Strong IPO performance tends to indicate a bull market - and the Bloomberg IPO index is up 29.4% in 2009 against the S&P's +1.47%. Market Currents - Seeking Alpha

New High New Low Data - chrisperruna.com

Stock Market’s Rally Likely to Last Into 2010: John Dorfman, Bloomberg. "In all 10 previous cases (of waterfall declines in the US stock market since 1929), the big decline was followed by a basing period, then a rally. In nine of the 10 cases the rally lasted at least a year. In the sole exception, 1929-1930, the market stayed roughly flat. While history doesn’t come with guarantees, the pattern suggests an uptrend continuing at least until next spring."

KFC Redux

Crude gains after oil platform attack in Nigeria, despite bearish IEA report - Go Nigers! MarketWatch

"I am serious now"

Photo of the new leader of the US war on drugs.

Exxon Mobil's Weapons of Gas Destruction. XOM can land Qatari LNG on the US west coast for $2/mbtu. Is their strategy to drive their domestic gas producing competitors out of business, then buy their assets cheaply? WSJ.com

Clean vs. Not-So-Clean Energy: "pairs trades involving clean energy ETFs such as PBW, PUW and TAN vs. XLE, XOP and OIH are one way to play the Washington energy legislation game going forward." VIX and More

4 Reasons Not to Count Out Coal ETF (KOL) - Tom Lydon on Seeking Alpha

Hydrogen-powered car unveiled. Now, if you could only find some fuel for it . . . newslite.tv

Indonesia ETF (IDX): 5 Factors to Consider Before Investing - Tom Lydon on Seeking Alpha

SEC may bring civil charges against State Street (STT). MarketWatch

Chart: US personal consumption expenditures (1950-Present) itulip.com

Good news for a change: at least 12 Michael Jackson fans commit suicide.

Animal rights activists in Shanghai have rescued 300 cats from a dealer who was planning to sell the stolen pets to restaurants in southern China. Nothing To Do With Arbroath

Spring Airline in China To Ask Regulators For Standing Only Passengers. Tickets would be 20% cheaper. Sky News

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Monday, June 29, 2009

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U Mass researchers concluded that men are better at using a hammer in the dark, but women are more accurate during the day. Useful information, I'm sure! newslite.tv

Chart of the Week: Might Recent Volume Bottom Doom Stocks? VIX and More I'm not sure how much you can read into this because of seasonally low volume and the secular downtrend of NYSE volume relative to off-exchange trading.

A British artist has been awarded a £20,000 grant from the UK national lottery to explore cultural attitudes towards women’s bottoms. Times Online

Bath time in Thailand.

Mould a Willy Kit - £9.95. "Contains everthing you need to make a plaster cast momento of your man's private parts! The Mould A Willy Kit includes: Impression Gel, Impression Mix, Mixing Paddle, Measuring Cup, Moulding Pouch, Wooden Base and full instructions if you need them!!"

Remarkable Photos Of Kids And Their Pets

REITs are currently enduring the perfect storm: a lack of credit and weak economic fundamentals," said Morningstar analyst Mitchell Corwin in his latest report on SPDR Dow Jones REIT ETF (RWR). MarketWatch

Man beats cat to death in front of small children, no charges filed. Worcester Telegram & Gazette

California's Default Is Certain - Jeff Nielson on Seeking Alpha

Hot Dog (joke) - Miss Cellania

Lamb found with leg growing from its head. Nothing To Do With Arbroath

Bucket of KFC entices Negro criminal to admit his guilt.

Colonel Sanders Quarterly: The Magazine for Chicken Loving Niggers.

Photos from the Jell-O Mold Competition - Eat Me Daily

JERUSALEM - On Saturday police turned water cannons on a raucous demonstration by Ultra-Orthodox Jews who were protesting opening of a city parking lot on the Jewish Sabbath. Apparently it's okay to protest on the Sabbath, but not to drive? MSNBC

How to turn your penis into a vagina without surgery, the Japanese way - an illustrated step-by-step tutorial. MurderFeed.com

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Sunday, June 28, 2009

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Chart comparing SPX to VIX: Cobra's Market View. "Complacency is high when VIX (makes a) lower low while SPX (makes a) lower high. This kind of negative divergence usually leads (to) a pullback."

Domino effect in mortgage defaults: The farther homeowners are under water, the more likely they are to default on their mortgages. Also, “The predisposition to default increases with the number of foreclosures in the same ZIP code.” Calculated Risk

"like India, day-to-day changes in the Russian stock market behave opposite of the US: they are momentum, not contrarian driven." This tends to confirm older studies which showed that smaller capitalization stock market indexes are more likely to trend than larger capitalization market indexes. Short-term Price Movement in Russia’s Stock Market - Part 1 – MarketSci Blog.

Beaver Stuffing Kit from Prezzies plus. "Amaze your friends with your new-found beaver stuffing skills - why not demonstrate your new talents at a party or gathering to really cause a stir! Or simply stuff and mount your beaver and keep your secrets to yourself !! Our Price: £7.99"

Play Commodities With New Peru ETF: iShares All Peru Capped Index Fund (EPU). Roger Nusbaum for TheStreet.com.

Is the Princeton EGG Project showing that something BIG is about to happen? Breaking News

FDIC Breaks February Record: 5 Banks Fail Over Weekend, bringing total for the year to 45. Charting Stocks

Real Life Centaur? Woman Creates Robotic Horse Legs for Humans. AMOG

Firefox 3.5 is scheduled to be released Tuesday, June 30. I have been using the beta for several months. My verdict is that Firefox 3.5 is the fastest, safest, and most reliable web browser ever. Webmonkey

In accordance with Michael Jackson’s will, little boys’ pants shall be flown at half-mast today. Open Thread: Michael Jackson jokes.

Change you can believe in: The White House Is Drafting an Executive Order to Allow Indefinite Detention of terrorism suspects at Guantanamo; the Move Would Bypass Congress. ProPublica

Racist Dog

Global air travel demand has fallen for the ninth straight month, down more than 9% in May. FP Trading Desk

Thursday, June 26, 1930 - Dow 215.58 +3.74 (+1.8%). 'Some traders believe the Dow Rails average closing below the 1929 low indicated bear market isn't over. Many important bankers disagree, feeling it's close to a bottom . . . Old-Timer says he's not sure if stocks will go up or down from here, but anyone buying good stocks at this level will do well in the long run. “We get few opportunities like the present to buy things below intrinsic worth.” ' The more things change, the more they remain the same! News from 1930

Why the NYC subway system is going broke: The Empire Center for New York State Policy.
More than 10 percent of the MTA’s workforce--8,214 individuals in all--took home $100,000 or more in total pay, including overtime. The MTA’s six-figure club included:
• 10 employees who earned more than $250,000, averaging $102,000 over their base salaries;
• 44 employees who earned between $200,000 and $250,000, averaging $89,000 over their base salaries;
• 600 employees who earned between $150,000 and $200,000; and
• 7,560 individuals who earned between $100,000 and $150,000.

UK parents banned from taking pictures of their own children at sports day. "Mrs Ethelston's Church of England Primary School, in Uplyme, Devon, prohibited photos and video filming, claiming it was due to changes in child protection and images legislation." Telegraph.co.uk

I am moving to the beach cottage today for a "vacation" until the middle of July. The only way I can tell I am on vacation is that my physical location changes, so the move probably won't affect publication of the blog as long as the internet connection is working well.

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Saturday, June 27, 2009

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Program Pays Girls $1 Per Day To Not Get Pregnant. Wait, isn't that illegal sexism? Some young man should apply to be paid not to impregnate girls, then sue if denied funding. WXII

The Ladies of StockTwits: Technical Trader Anne-Marie Buttrick - Wall St. Cheat Sheet
Damien: "How does it feel to be a female trader in a male dominated business?"
Anne-Marie: "Trading is an extremely unnatural business for a woman to be in. Most women thrive in an environment of certainty."

ETF Trends’ Guide to Currency ETFs. Some of these new vehicles are becoming superior alternatives to forex or currency futures.

Dow Bullish Percent Gets Frothy. Arthur Hill, Don't Ignore This Chart!

Unlocked bikes get stolen within four hours in the UK, but it only takes 17 minutes in London. newslite.tv

Only in London: Drivers on the Underground have been issued a book of philosophical quotes to read aloud along with their normal announcements. The usual "mind the gap" and "the next station is..." will now be joined by insights from Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Einstein and Mahatma Gandhi. newslite.tv

The Fourth Branch of the U.S. Government: Goldman Sachs? Graham Summers on Seeking Alpha. In my opinion JP Morgan should also be regarded as part of the fourth branch, and the oldest part, since they bailed out the federal government in the 1890s.

Gas Pump Thievery: Who's Really Behind the Rising Prices at the Pumps? Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, of course! AlterNet

Breakthrough washing machine uses just one cup of water. Most of the water is replaced with reusable nylon polymer beads which attract and absorb dirt. newslite.tv

Russia's energy giant Gazprom has signed a £1.53bn deal with Nigeria's state operated energy company to invest in a new joint venture. And the new firm will be called . . . Nigaz! BBC News

Suggested logo for Nigaz Corp.

swine flu cases - Wolfram Alpha.

Should we pay any attention to the recent high level of stock selling by insiders? "these are the same insiders who were 'piling into' company stock less than two months before the S&P 500's peak in August 2007, and then again in March 2008 just as the recession was in its early stages. If they didn't see the downturn coming, what makes people think they'll see the upturn?" Bespoke Investment Group

Holy card of St. Michael Jackson. The “Michael Jackson rushed to hospital” headline had the highest number of clicks of any story in the history of Yahoo! News. Apparently history is being re-written by the liberal press while we watch, and he wasn't a sneaky little pervert after all.

Biotech Seasonality? "very limited evidence suggests that biotech stocks tend to be weak in late winter, strong in late summer and December, and weak during most of the fall. The late summer strength is most distinctive." CXOAG Investing Notes

Internet Accounts for One Third of Consumer Media Day. The average surfer was online 3.8 hours/day in 2008, an 81% increase over three years. MediaPost

The internet’s toll on family time leaves women feeling ignored. Marketing Charts

45% of Internet shoppers abandon their "carts" before making the final purchase. The most common reasons are high shipping costs and other fees that are not apparent early in the process. MarketWatch

Riding High

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Friday, June 26, 2009

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Is the market on the brink of a sharp correction? The only thing I see that argues against it is that the sentiment of individual investors is at its most bearish level since the March lows. Bespoke Investment Group

All up, then all down - Cobra's Market View. Yesterday came very close to being an "all up day"
- a day when the S&P, the US Dollar, Oil, Gold and the bond ETF (AGG), are all up on the same day. In the past this setup has almost always been followed by a severe selloff.

The Long-term Treasury ETF (TLT) is at a Key Level. "There is a very significant trendline as well as a resistance level right here where the market closed. If TLT can clear this area by closing above 95.00, there is a good chance in my opinion that the trend will then have turned back up." Kevin's Market Blog

VIX:VXV Ratio Sell/Short Signal. "when this ratio closes at 0.92 or below, the bears tend to have an upper hand for at least several weeks. When the ratio drops below 0.90, as was the case today, the odds shift even more favorably in the direction of the bears. In brief, the low current levels in the VIX:VXV ratio suggest that options traders are too bullish and complacent in their 30 day outlook (event volatility) relative to their 93 day outlook (structural volatility.)" VIX and More

California lawmakers reject budget fix. The state could begin issuing IOUs as early as next week. Los Angeles Times

A new Japanese study found that slightly chubby people live longest. Impact Lab

Interview with Victor Sperandeo (video). Trader Vic talks about the Fed, the Big 3, economic history, and trading. MartinKronicle

Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report: The build was smaller than expected, but still, we are way above trend. Something has to give here. Energy Information Administration

Photo of volcanic eruption from space: Sarychev Peak Eruption, Kuril Islands. NASA Earth Observatory Image of the Day

ConAgra Foods (CAG) reported Thursday that fiscal fourth-quarter net income fell 13% even as sales for its consumer food segment continued to grow. MarketWatch

The Next Big Thing? "This morning ProShares launched two new triple ETFs. Now before you exclaim, “Enough already!” consider that the new ETFs are designed to track the daily moves of the S&P 500 index. As such, these are the first 3x and -3x ETFs that track the SPX directly. For this reason alone, the two new ETFs are can’t miss products. While these triple ETFs will have some interesting hedging applications, the fact that they have a target tracking period of one trading day, like the Direxion Daily ETFs, means they will probably become very hot in the day trading space. Don’t be surprised to see 100 million shares traded in both of these within a few months. The official names of the new ETFs are the Ultra ProShares (UPRO) and Short ProShares (SPXU)." VIX and More

Kimberly-Clark (KMB) to cut 1,600 jobs in an effort to save $150M/year. They expect to save $0.10/share in H2. Market Currents - Seeking Alpha

NIH Spends $400K To Figure Out Why Men Don't Like Condoms. Slashdot

HP Holds the Breakout (HPQ) Arthur Hill, Don't Ignore This Chart!

Iraq is set to welcome back Exxon, Shell, et. al. to develop the world’s third-largest deposit of crude reserves, three decades after expelling them. Bloomberg

Ice on fire: Frozen deposits of energy-rich methane clathrate could make the Siberian permafrost the new Gulf. New Scientist

“The Canadian dollar is a dog with fleas.” The loonie is down 6% since reaching an eight-month high on June 1. Bloomberg

A York, UK mailman has been jailed for burning stacks of mail in his garden after smoking so much cannabis he was too lazy to deliver it. Yorkshire Post

Seeds of Shame? If Monsanto (MON) is ashamed to put their brand name on the genetically modified seeds they create, there is something seriously wrong with the company and their products! Looks like a good short to me. Random Thoughts

PepsiCo Inc. (PEP) said Wednesday it will obtain a 20% stake in Calbee Foods Co. to jointly produce and sell a wide range of snack products in Japan. WSJ.com

Cartoon: How to drive your man crazy in bed. The New Yorker, June 29th, 2009

Google’s global website was blocked in China on Wednesday night. FT.com

Chinese citizens plan 24-hour internet boycott on July 1 to protest the new government content filtering system. iTnews.com.au

Chinese woman boiled man's head to cure daugther's psychiatric problems - Telegraph.co.uk

Graph: The US national debt as a percent of GDP, with projection to 2019. US Debt Clock

KFC Nigger Jokes: "I got a call from a friend of mine tonight. He told me I had to come meet him at KFC, I didn't really want to but thinking he might be in trouble with some nigger I grabbed the .45 and an extra mag and took off to KFC. When I get there he is sitting in the corner eating. I sat down and said "What?" He said wait till this nigger bitch comes up to the counter she's looks funny as hell. I wasn't amused, I have seen many funny looking niggers, and didn't care to wait to see another. The wait was worth it this 750 pound nigger had bright red hair, like ronald mcdonald red. She looked like an ugly ape with a bright red wig on. I wish I would have taken my camera. That made my night." Coonhunter22

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