The Inglorious Nomination Edition

About the time we can make the ends meet, somebody moves the ends.
- Herbert Hoover

I buy when other people are selling. - J. Paul Getty

I find it rather easy to portray a businessman. Being bland, rather cruel and incompetent comes naturally to me. - John Cleese

For the moment, a golfer was not the lead news story today. With the Golden Globe nominations coming out and a blockbuster trade in Major League Baseball in the works, we all got a reprieve, albeit a temporary one. The “Too Big to Fail” sticker is peeling off the GE trailer at the moment as analysts call for them to start divesting. The financials got both good and bad news as Wells Fargo (WFC) raised over $12 billion in a stock offering. Citigroup (C) offset that with news that an arbitration claim was filed against it by The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

With that, I have two publications for you all today. The first, Kelley Wright’s Investment Quality Trends, brings us their “Mid-December 2009” piece. In it they discuss the “dividend trend” and how it can be an indicator of where to buy and sell a specific stock. They have also compiled a list of the recent dividend changes and have updates on many of the stocks they follow. Come check out their “Timely Ten.”

The second piece for today is the Common Sense Investment Newsletter, which we covered in the very first post of this blog. In this edition, Joseph Klock talks about the “Price of Oil per Barrel.” When you think about something that went from $85 to $126 per barrel, back down to $31 and up to $70 in a two year timeframe, that is one heck of a roller coaster. He also has updates on the “Common Sense Portfolio” and some common sense tips.

Keep an eye on the year end distributions from your mutual funds. Any tax loss harvesting should be wrapping up for both the big institutions and the insiders as everybody looks to take next week off.

For more information, go to http://www.zepinvest.com.

Read more...

Pardon the Interruption…

A bank is a place where they lend you an umbrella in fair weather and ask for it back when it rains. - Robert Frost

Ever notice how it's a penny for your thoughts, yet you put in your two-cents? Someone is making a penny on the deal! - Steven Wright

Life certainly takes its turns. With the combination of the surgery on my poor little five year old and then major computer issues over the weekend, I feel like I’m playing from behind. How do you tell a child that even though the pain medication doesn’t taste good, it will take the hurt away where they get it??? The poor child has been suffering.

Anyway, the markets have been interesting over the last week. The few people that actually paid attention on Friday showed some raw nerves with the news of Dubai. The question of the day is “are they too big to fail?”

As everybody came back to work this week, the fears of Dubai have, at least temporarily, subsided and we even had some good news today with some of the financial data released. Let’s see where our experts see opportunity.

Kelley Wright provides commentary and trade recommendations using a dividend value method to determine stock value. His publication Investment Quality Trends is released monthly and has provided quality insight for over 40 years. In his latest, “So What Do We Do Now?” find out what a “Select Blue Chip” is and learn how they have done it for four decades.

The Real Wealth Report by Larry Edelson is another monthly newsletter. This one focuses on natural resources, gold bullion and stocks as well as other precious metals. The most recent edition, “My Answers to Your Recent Questions,” he answers questions on the economy, inflation, the dollar and the idea of gold as a singular global currency.

Dan Rosenblum uncovers opportunities in a completely different space. His daily Shark Biotech gives insight and commentary on new biotech investments based on IPO status, R&D and the industry itself. Today’s alert was on Onyx Pharmaceuticals (ONXX) and whether or not their cancer drug is on a list for reimbursement in China.

There are three completely different ideas for you to review today. You could even combine the three using the first as your core with the other two satellites. So many ideas…so little time…

For more information, please go to http://www.zepinvest.com.

Read more...