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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Thursday, June 25, 2009

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Cobra's Market View joins Don Worden and John Murphy in expecting the S&P 500 to make a head and shoulders bottom.

7 Reasons To Expect A Short Term Bounce - The Technical Take

Trading Around Option Expiration Days: "evidence from simple tests offers some support for belief in a modest positive bias for the broad stock market a few days before and a negative bias just after equity option expiration dates." CXOAG Investing Notes

Tuesday, June 24, 1930: Dow 219.58 +4.28 (2.0%). "Morning trading began with some margin liquidation following Saturday's sharp decline. Bears sensed opportunity to drive stock prices close to panic lows of last November, and launched aggressive attacks against major industrials, particularly US Steel. After two attacks failed to force Steel below its November panic low of 150, a rally began that spread to the rest of the market, including major industrials and utilities." News from 1930

Huge Pre-Stonehenge Complex Found in Southern England via "Crop Circles". For such a site to have lain hidden for so long is "completely amazing." National Geographic

Oil Failing to Rally on Bullish News...A Foreboding Sign. CommodityBullMarket.com

Predicting Oil and Gas Prices: 2009-2016. I don't think anyone can reliably predict the future, and economists are among those with the worst track records, but Kitov's attempt has a certain ring of truth. Ivan Kitov on Seeking Alpha

Pet Owners At Increased Risk Of Acquiring Fatal MRSA Infection (methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus) Impact Lab

Frugal Shoppers Drive Grocers Back to Basics. Coffee bars are out, cheap private-label goods are in. WSJ.com

Supervalu (a major grocery store operator) sees Q1 substantially below the $0.65 First Call consensus (SVU). "Since providing guidance on our fourth quarter earnings call, consumers have become more value focused and cautious in their spending which has pressured sales and margins greater than anticipated. We currently estimate our identical store sales will be approximately negative 3 percent." Yahoo! Finance

Sinking home prices and a weak job market have forced normally restless Americans to stay put. SFGate

Saving the Environment without Sacrificing Convenience: Global Consumers Want the Best of Both Worlds. They are much less likely to care about protecting the environment if it requires giving up their dishwasher or their plastic bags. Ipsos News Center

Harry Schultz paints bleak picture of future: Schultz reports rumors that "Some U.S. embassies worldwide are being advised to purchase massive amounts of local currencies; enough to last them a year. Some embassies are being sent enormous amounts of U.S. cash to purchase currencies from those governments, quietly. But not pound sterling. Inside the State Dept., there is a sense of sadness and foreboding that 'something' is about to happen ... within 180 days, but could be 120-150 days." Peter Brimelow for MarketWatch

Bamopoly. The object of the game is to destroy American capitalism by having the government take over everything! EndGameNow

Carl Kiilsgaard - The White Family of Rural Kentucky: a photo essay. burn magazine

New Nixon Tapes and Files Released. “There are times when an abortion is necessary. I know that. When you have a black and a white. Or a rape.” NYTimes.com

Money Box: Greedy Nigger Boy

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Wednesday, June 24, 2009

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If you were planning to trade the Dow Industrials with 50-200 SMA crossovers, you would get better results by requiring confirmation from the Transports before going long. MarketSci Blog

The Air Transport Association reports a 22% decline in cargo traffic. The Pragmatic Capitalist

Regulators Urge Caution on Triple Leveraged ETFs: It's About Time. "inverse and leveraged ETFs that are reset daily typically are unsuitable for retail investors who plan to hold them for longer than one trading session, particularly in volatile markets." Bespoke Investment Group

Sneeze Fetish Forum -> Observations, Stories, & Art

Yesterday sugar jumped to the highest price since July 2006. Bloomberg

NYSE Loses Trades Fastest in a Year. The beneficiary was not Nasdaq, the Big Board’s main rival for 38 years. It was Direct Edge Holdings LLC and Bats Exchange Inc., which more than doubled their combined share since August to 22.8 percent. “When you are in a purely electronic marketplace, the fact that you’re the original or the oldest guy standing doesn’t mean anything anymore.” Bloomberg

U.S. June retail sales likely to be weak. Continuous rain and cool weather so far this month (especially in the Northeast) probably dampened consumers' interest in opening their wallets. Reuters

A black guy walks into a bar with a beautiful parrot on his shoulder. “Wow!” says the bartender “That is really something, where did you get it?” “Africa,” says the parrot.

New ETF May Be the Best Infrastructure Play (iShares Emerging Market Infrastructure Index Fund - EMIF) Roger Nusbaum for TheStreet.com

If the first three digits of the product's bar code are:
690-692 … then it is MADE IN CHINA .
00 - 09 … USA & CANADA
30 - 37 … FRANCE
40 - 44 … GERMANY
47 ... Taiwan
49 … JAPAN
50 … UK

Why you (likely) trade like a loser. The Pragmatic Capitalist

China Orders Google to Halt Links to Some Foreign Sites. The command came a day after the U.S. company was warned over pornographic content available through its search engine. WSJ.com

Chile Remains Strong Even as Copper Prices Slide (ECH). Marc Chandler on Seeking Alpha

Health-Care Stocks: A Beleaguered Haven? The health care sector is supposed to be a defensive bulwark. But poor sales results from Walgreen, increased competitive pressures, and health care reform proposals are pressuring the sector. BusinessWeek

Iranian government charges "bullet fee" of $3000 to family of dead protester. WSJ.com

News flash: Abraham Lincoln was a racist. "I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in anyway the social and political equality of the white and black races - that I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality." Abraham Lincoln, Fourth Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Charleston, Illinois, September 18, 1858, in The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume III, pp. 145-146.

Beer Spill Shuts Down Route 78 in Swanton, VT - WCAX.COM

Hi, bear! Bye, kid.

Mass. woman backs car out of garage's 4th floor - Berkshire Eagle Online

Inflation Rates for 77 countries. Surprisingly, Venezuela is at the top of the list. Bespoke Investment Group

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Tuesday, June 23, 2009

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After Bell Quick Summary: Very short-term very oversold, also statistically tomorrow is known as a “Turnaround Tuesday”, so I see very good chances a rebound tomorrow. Cobra's Market View

ETF Update: Sectors Reflect a Deteriorating Market. "The weak conditions suggest caution, and we have cut back on position sizes. Those with new money to invest might look to utilities." A Dash of Insight

Insiders Exit Shares at the Fastest Pace in Two Years. Stock sales by CEOs, directors and senior officers have accelerated to the highest level since June 2007, two months before credit markets froze. Bloomberg

White House intern - 2009.

Emerging-Market Stocks in ‘Correction’ After 10% Drop from 2009 Peak. Bloomberg

Energy Stocks Will Surge When the Recession Ends. John Dorfman on Bloomberg

UPS Leads the Market: "UPS is a key part of the Dow Transports and perhaps a leading indicator for the stock market. Notice how the price relative (UPS:$SPX ratio) bottomed ahead of the stock market in March. UPS started showing relative strength before the actual market bottom. Most recently, the price relative peaked in April and UPS has been showing relative weakness the last two months." Don't Ignore This Chart!

Radiology Art by medical student Satre Stuelke

Iran's Guardian Council: "Statistics provided by the candidates, who claim more than 100% of those eligible have cast their ballot in 80-170 cities are not accurate -- the incident has happened in only 50 cities." PressTV.ir

Iran is Completely Surrounded by US Military [Image] Charting Stocks

Recession takes bite out of brand loyalty. "Coca-Cola Classic is one of the nation's most successful brands. Even so, 25 percent of Classic Coke buyers were less loyal during the study period. That compares with Procter & Gamble Co'sCrest toothpaste, which saw almost 59 percent of its highly loyal buyers become less committed." Reuters

Bill Maher: "we don't have a left and a right party anymore, we have a center-right party and a crazy party." YouTube

Is Obama losing his luster? The president's approval index hits is negative for the first time. World Net Daily

Why ads paint dads as buffoons: "When you make fun of a white, Anglo-Saxon male, husband, dad, you don't get a single letter of complaint." National Post

New Hampshire Passes Law Forcing Old People To Watch Gays Marry. The Onion

Slimes and girls gameshow?

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Monday, June 22, 2009

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The risks of a double-dip, W-shaped recession may be growing. Nouriel Roubini for the Taipei Times

Investor Sentiment: the "Dumb Money" is losing conviction; the "Smart Money" is neutral. The Technical Take

June is Goat Trauma Awareness Month. The Childhood Goat Trauma Foundation

Let's Make Nacho Hats! The Something Awful Forums

Customers given too many choices are 10x less likely to buy. Derek Sivers

Why the Fed Isn't Igniting Inflation: The author contends that the dramatic increase in the money supply will be completely offset by the new frugality among US consumers. Time will tell. Peter Coy for BusinessWeek

Google reserves 1 Million Phone Numbers for Google Voice, an indication they are close to adding a significant amount of users. PC World

New York City Homicides Map - The New York Times. I have always felt most comfortable in the upper west side, but the upper east side actually looks a little safer.

How to swear in Farsi, the language of Iran. "Nanat sag suk mizaneh------>Your mom gives dogs blowjobs." Jean's Blog

Equatorial storms of Jupiter (gif)

Teenager makes prom dress out of coffee filters. The Fashion Police

The Town Devoured By Rock: The 3,000-odd inhabitants of Setenil de las Bodegas, a city in Spain’s beautiful Andalucia region, seem to be stuck between a rock and a hard place. Great Photos. Environmental Graffiti

City digitally adds black guy to Fun Guide cover to make it more ‘inclusive’. Posted Toronto

White people in the UK are being unjustifiably stopped and searched to provide racial balance in police statistics. Times Online

Swine Flu Wedding. In this photo taken Sunday, June 14, 2009, Ilana Jackson, left, and Jeremy Fierstien wear surgical masks during their wedding in Highland Park, Ill. The couple wore masks and latex gloves after finding out less than 48 hours before the wedding that they had swine flu. Breitbart

E-mails from an Asshole. "This is a collection of e-mails I have sent to people who post classified ads. My goal is to mess with them, confuse them, and/or piss them off. These are the ones that succeeded." DontEvenReply

Black widow Russian woman drugged and raped ten men. PerthNow

The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla - good read. DocShare

World's oldest man, 113, shares the secrets to living a long life: "cigarettes, whiskey and wild, wild women." BBC News

Rare coin found in UK field set to sell for £10,000. newslite.tv

Phoenix Crop Circle Appears In Same Field as Dragonfly Crop Circle - Impact Lab. Many parts of rural England are magical and if you are lucky enough to live in one of them for a while, you come to realize that anything at all can happen.

Many women taking the crowded train in Tokyo opt for women-only carriages during the rush hour to avoid gropers. Now, for fear of being accused of groping, some are asking for carriages reserved for men as well. Reuters

Excellent free online library for students, teachers, and the classic enthusiast. Good selection. Read Print

"Secular schools can never be tolerated because such a school has no religious instruction and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all character training and religion must be derived from faith. . . . We need a believing people." - Adolf Hitler

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Sunday, June 21, 2009

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Happy Fathers' Day: "I love my Dad cus he fucs me in bed"

Tesco criticized for including Josef Fritzl book in Father's Day display. (Fritzl is the man who locked his daughter in the cellar for 24 years and fathered 7 children with her, murdering one of them.) Telegraph.co.uk

Arkansas Negro Charged with Rape of his 8 Day-Old Baby. myEyewitnessNews.com

One in Four South African Men Admit to Rape. Feminist Daily News

Is Another Market Meltdown Possible, Even Likely? Simple, common-sense technical analysis warns that stock market risk is high: the S&P has broken its upward sloping trendline during a declining volume trend. Simon Maierhofer for Yahoo! Finance

One more reason to be cautious about buying stocks: the BPNYA has turned down from overbought territory. John Murphy, ChartWatchers Blog

Gold Setting Up For Major Move Higher As Market Advance Stalls. Tom Bowley, ChartWatchers Blog. Bowley sees a potential inverse H&S formation on the weekly gold chart which would be confirmed by a move above 1000.

Printable coupon for a free 12 oz. Seattle's Best coffee from Borders - valid through 6/25/09.

Is It OK For A Christian Husband to Gently Beat His Wife? "There is a level of discernment one must use. . . . you just give them…a little Godly tap on the cheek. A reminder of who is in charge and that your wrath can be great, but for your loved one you show warning in your mercy." Chuck Reagan, ChristWire

Infrastructure ETFs Target Global Trend - Roger Nusbaum for TheStreet.com. "a middle class is slowly emerging in places where there was no middle class and these people will need running water, electricity and cars. Money will be spent to build roads in developing nations and update old infrastructure in the U.S." Nusbaum discusses several ETFs which address this compelling investment theme, but the only one which is liquid enough to trade is the iShares S&P Global Infrastructure Fund (IGF) with average trading volume of 68K shares/day. The infrastructure space also includes an internally-financed private investment company, the Macquarie Infrastructure Trust (MIC), which is actively traded with volume > 750K shares/day; however, MIC imploded during the meltdown, and as indicated by the current share price of 3.79, there is no guarantee they are out of the woods.

Volatility in the currency markets tends to compress in June and July, then pick up in August. Kathy Lien - FX360.com

Emerging Markets: "The major risk they face is either a) a double-dip U.S. recession or b) a significant tightening of monetary policy around the globe. I don't think either of those is likely for the foreseeable future." Calafia Beach Pundit on Seeking Alpha. I disagree: I think a double-dip US recession is probable, therefore the risk of an emerging markets setback is high.

Diploma Denied To Maine Student Who Bowed, Blew Kiss To Family. (He must have been a white male heterosexual with no physical or mental handicaps.) WMTW Portland

The city of Haarlem, Netherlands is considering a municipal weed plantation. "Under the proposal, the City of Culture Gardens area must offer to individuals to make small-scale so-called Cannabis indica plants to grow - up to five pieces per person. The sale of the weed would be done in a local coffee shop." (automatic translation by Google) Haarlems Dagblad

Sotomayor: My women-only club isn’t discriminatory but I’m quitting it anyway. Hot Air

Ron Paul was the sole dissenter to a House resolution supporting the Iranian protests. "It seems our criticism is selective and applied when there are political points to be made," Paul said. "I have admired President Obama's cautious approach to the situation in Iran and I would have preferred that we in the House had acted similarly." TPMDC

Banks in Georgia, North Carolina, Kansas Closed by Regulators, bringing the year’s tally of failures to 40. Bloomberg

Officials: US tracking suspicious ship from NKorea - Yahoo! News

The Financial Crisis Has Hit Everyone (humorous cartoon). Fortune Watch

Poll: Obama Is Seen as Ineffective on the Economy by a "substantial majority of Americans". NYTimes

Yes We Can't

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