Online auction powerhouse eBay (EBAY: Charts, News, Offers) has loomed large in market headlines this past month. Microsoft’s (MSFT: Charts, News, Offers) mammoth acquisition of Skype boosted the company’s cash hoard while its subsidiary PayPal took search giant Google (GOOG: Charts, News, Offers) to court for allegedly stealing trade secrets to create its newly announced [...]
Erik Gholtoghian submits: Over the past 20 years Asian countries, predominantly China and some would argue Japan as well, have been manipulating their currencies to artificially create demand for their exports. This is to some extent the same as printing money to devalue the currency to make foreign buyers more able to afford Asian products. [...]
Scott’s Investments submits: I have previously detailed multiple methods for hedging equity portfolios using ETFs. During periods of market drawdowns or corrections, it is helpful to ask yourself if “now” is the time to either hedge or sell your long positions or if further patience is warranted until further confirmation of a more significant drawdown. [...]
China Play Stocks submits: Nassim Taleb’s book popularized the notion of a black swan — a highly improbable event — that can wreck havoc on an investor’s portfolio. The recent financial crisis had its origins in one such black swan: the nationwide decline of housing prices in America which invalidated a lot of the assumptions [...]
Elie Rosenberg submits: Telephone and Data Systems (TDS) is an intriguing combination of asset play and special situation, but it is unclear if and when value will be unlocked for shareholders. TDS is a holding company whose two main holdings are an 83% stake in a wireless carrier, U.S. Cellular (traded separately as USM), and [...]
John Mauldin submits: “All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome.” – George Orwell “ Hindsight is not only clearer than perception-in-the-moment but also [...]
BlueCut Capital submits: At the Noble Financial conference (webcast link), Odyssey Marine’s (OMEX) CEO laid out potential catalysts for the company (ie. the stock). Let’s review Slide 12 from that presentation titled, “Potential Near-Term Catalytic Events”: I’ll hit on four of these below. First, let me remind you that publicly traded CEOs are in the [...]
Luca Avellini submits: Is foreign exchange an asset class in its own right? This question is certainly not new, yet it hasn’t been answered once and for all. One of the reasons why FX, or forex, or currency trading (whatever we want to call it), is difficult to categorize is because of the lack of [...]
Matthew Pixa submits: My last article spoke of getting a bit defensive in light of several economic headwinds we’re facing. A portion from what I wrote on my blog dated May 4, 2011 is as follows: Markets are indeed cyclical as they predict what the economy is doing. There is truth to the markets being [...]
Stephen Simpson submits: By Stephen D. Simpson It’s not unusual for business partnerships to have their ups and downs, but it looks like the relationship between biotech company Amylin Pharmaceuticals (AMLN) and major pharmaceutical Lilly (LLY) may well be damaged beyond repair. Between Lilly’s decision to market drugs from Boehringer Ingelheim, Amylin’s decision to sue [...]