April 2009

Market Recap: Hotel, Motel, Holiday Inn…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PKhMe3e0uU] The Reformed Broker, AKA Derick Sermon, here with today’s Market Recap… They loved everything about Apple (AAPL) today, and the stock was up over 3 bucks from the open.  iPhones and China are like peanut butter and chocolate, a can’t-miss combo.  Anything hotel or lodging-related was also on fire, with the Hotel/Motel REIT sector rallying over 12%…

Stress Test: Throw Another Trillion Into The Woodchipper

Waiting with baited breath for the results of the US Government’s 19 bank stress tests?  Here’s an appetizer from the folks over at Keefe Bruyette & Woods, who’ve conducted their own stress test: From Bloomberg: U.S. banks may need another $1 trillion in capital to cushion against losses as unemployment rises and borrowers fall behind…

German Sex Bailout

German whores need stimulus, too. I know, I know…too provocative an opening sentence.  I learned that from Rupert, you’re lucky that wasn’t the title. From Reuters: In Germany…one of the few countries where prostitution is legal, and unusually transparent, the industry has responded with an economic stimulus package of its own: modern marketing tools, rebates…

Market Recap: Cars and Bikes

 [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z19zFlPah-o] The Reformed Broker, AKA The Mongoose Californian, here with today’s Market Recap… Does anyone or anything suck as much as General Motors (GM)?  Even Ford (F), up 10% plus today, seems to be picking itself up off the mat these days, although the Goldman Sachs Conviction Buy List kudos probably didn’t hurt. On a…

These Little Piggies Went to Market

Apparently, there is an explosion in new equity offerings and even new debt offerings coming from the REIT sector.  The Real Estate Investment Trusts are raising cash from investors while they can, and high-profile deals have already gotten done by Simon Properties (SPG) and Kimco (KIM). From FT: There is an appetite from institutional investors…

Goldman Pegs China's GDP at Lucky Number 8

From FT: Goldman Sachs has hiked its forecasts for Chinese GDP and reckons the magical growth figure of 8 per cent could be reached this year.  The bank says better than expected results from November’s huge fiscal stimulus package and aggressive policy easing are behind its upgrade. Maybe Goldman understands this or maybe not, but…

Market Recap: The Battle

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMahxoftUFc] The Reformed Broker, AKA Buddy Lembeck, here with today’s Market Recap… Much like Rhymefest* gives up the battle to Big Daddy Kane in the above video (my favorite of ’09 so far), the bears had to give it up to the bulls today as banks and techs stole the show. The airlines went berzerk…

CEO Dead Pool: Pandit Vs Lewis

            CEO     Vikram Pandit     Kenneth Lewis         Company               Going Against Him Slow to cut costs, snowballing losses, spins all results positively, voracious consumer of taxpayer funds Bad acquisition of Countrywide, worse deal for Merrill, bonus scandal, gorged on i-bankers at peak of market      Going For Him Engineering background, Suaveness. Southern…

BONY Mellon Spits the Bit

From Reuters: Bank of New York Mellon Corp (BK) lowered its dividend 63 percent to build capital, after a decline in fees resulting from falling equity markets caused first-quarter profit to decline more than expected.  Net income attributable to common shareholders declined 57 percent to $322 million, or 28 cents per share, from $746 million,…

The Somali Pirate Takes Manhattan!

This has FARCE written all over it… From the New York Times: A Somali teenager has arrived to face what are believed to be the first piracy charges in the United States in more than a century…Abduhl Wali-i-Musi, the sole surviving Somali pirate from the hostage-taking of an American ship captain, was handcuffed with a…