It was late 1993, and I knew that we could make a lot of money if I sold floating-rate Guaranteed Investment Contracts. Let me quote an earlier piece: My goal as an actuarial businessman was to make profits with modest risk for my ultimate owners, who were the mutual policyholders. Once I faced a situation [...]
Cody Willard on Apple suppliers, oil, Greece and more
May 17, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Here’s the transcript of this week’s chat at TradingWithCody.com, a service not affiliated with MarketWatch. All right guys, ask me anything. Q. Any idea or explanation why some important AAPL suppliers have completely different behavior? QCOM,BRCM more or less are following AAPL (about -10% since their earnings report) and others ( SWKS and mostly CRUS [...]
Are you ready for water inflation?
May 17, 2012 By Leave a Comment
We haven’t learned any lessons from the ethanol debacle. Subverting our food supply chain in search of energy is one of the dumbest trades of all time. So when I see headlines like this from the Denver Post, I fret: Fracking bidders top farmers at water auction By BRUCE FINLEY The Denver Post DENVER—Front Range farmers [...]
Still Looking For Upside
May 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The market is getting a bounce in early trading, but it still needs to pick up some steam as the day wears on to have a real impact. We did get some positive economic reports today which seem to be helping. Both Asian and European markets were both down overnight, but our market seems to [...]
Will Facebook’s IPO make E-Trade party like it’s 1999?
May 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Talking babies notwithstanding, Etrade has seen better days. It’s the rare company that got clobbered by Web Bubble 1.0 AND the ownership of subprime debt. Here’s a chart of its all-time performance: ETFC Facebook recently added Etrade as an underwriter along with usual suspects like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley (lead underwriter), Citigroup, J.P. Morgan, Bank of America, [...]
You Call That A Bounce?
May 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The market is only slightly higher in early trading despite the market back in oversold territory and down the last 7 of 9 days. The futures were pointing to a stronger open early this morning, but the enthusiasm quickly faded. The latest Empire State Manuf. Index improved to 17.1 in May from 6.6 in April. [...]
2 more ways to buy Facebook before the IPO
May 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Monday Morning Musings
May 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The markets are lower in early trading on the heels of increasing political unrest in Greece which is weighing on European markets. Europe’s markets are all lower this morning, while bond yields are rising in the peripheral countries. Asian markets were also mostly lower overnight, including China, despite a move by the central bank in [...]
My Gut Feeling for Today, May 14, 2012 ($)
May 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The dysfunctional Greek political process played out over the weekend and failed to form a coalition government. While they still have a few days to do so, the inability to act like responsible adults over the weekend caused an implosion of the Greek stock market and dragged most European markets down by 2 to 3%. [...]
Answers on how to trade tech right now
May 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Here are a selection of questions and answers from this week’s chat from TradingWithCody.com, a service not affiliated with MarketWatch. All right, let’s rock. You bring the roll. Q. Hi Cody, what’s your updated thought on NUAN ? Not for earnings but looking strategically…..are they somehow involved in SIRI/ EVY, etc.? Or, is NUAN knowhow [...]
