This morning, investors work up and sent the Dow plunging more than 200 points. While the losses have moderated so far, with the trading day almost over, there are concerns that Monday could bring another round of losses. After all, today is a short trading day — ending at 1 p.m. Eastern — and many investors are traveling or enjoying time with their families. Time to consider the information may lead to bigger losses on Monday. The news is also taking away from optimism, prompted by Black Friday, about the holiday shopping season.

The investors participating in the markets today, though, are mostly gravitating toward U.S. Treasuries and the U.S. dollar. Stocks are considered riskier, and in times of uncertainty and in times when the markets are in upheaval due to such monumental news, it is little surprise that investors are turning to the relative safety of government bonds and the U.S. dollar, both of which are backed by the most stable taxpayer base in the world.

Image source: lardo via Wikimedia Commons

Post from: EveryJoe

Dubai Shakes Things Up for World Markets

As one might imagine, investors latched onto this news and took it as a cue to sell the dollar. After seeing gains for the dollar last week, Bullard’s remarks prompted a round of profit taking. Additionally, the comments also helped stocks. Confident that the Fed is willing to continue propping up Wall Street, investors are in a buying mood, sending the stock market higher an hour and a half after opening. The gains do appear to be slowing, though, as day traders swoop in to take their profits from earlier.

However, this week is expected to be a good one for stocks. Investors are hoping that the holiday shopping season, which kicks off with Black Friday the day after Thanksgiving, will help provide some fuel for the fire. With a short trading week, and the news so far good, it looks as though this week, at least, will be a good one for the stock market. We’ll see if it holds if Black Friday turns out to be a disappointment.

Image source: Fletcher6 via Wikimedia Commons

Post from: EveryJoe

James Bullard Helps Stocks, Destroys Dollar

1. Economic forecasting is difficult.
2. Financial market forecasting is more troublesome than economic forecasting.
3. The financial sector in this country has lied a great deal.
4. The government cannot predict the economy or financial markets.

These are, of course, very good lessons to learn. It is important to realize that neither the government, nor the financial “experts”, have all the answers. No one can predict what any market is going to do, nor can anyone see all of the economic consequences of policy measures. So it is important to consider your own financial situation, and make the best decisions you can.

One way to do that is to look at things for the long term, and change your financial habits so that they reflect prudent behaviors that help you prepare to weather the down cycles. Because they will always come.

Image source: Daylife

Post from: EveryJoe

4 Lessons Ben Stein Got From the Recession

1. Consider probabilities: Warren Buffett is a fan of the card game Bridge, in which successful players beat their opponents by considering probabilities. Likewise, you can think of stocks in terms of probabilities. The Investopedia article points out that investors who consider the probability of a good return over 10 years is likely to ride out down cycles to find success in the long-term.
2. Realize that investing has psychological aspects: We would like to be unemotional in our investments, but instead, it is better to look at how you approach investing from a psychological standpoint, and then find a mindset that works for you.
3. Don’t pay attention to market forecasts: No one can truly predict the market. Buffett points out that investors should instead pay attention to the fundamentals of their investments, and choose those that will do well over the long term. These will likely ride out down markets, and do well during bull markets.
4. Wait for the good investments: Instead of investing in a bunch of mediocre companies, Warren Buffett suggests that you think as though you only have around 20 investment choices for your lifetime portfolio. This way, you will carefully choose what is most likely to work well for you over a lifetime.

As you can see, there is a lot of potential for making good decisions and thinking in a way that will help you see long-term success with your portfolio. But it requires research and discipline.

Image source: Ethan Bloch via Flickr

Post from: EveryJoe

8 Tips for Thinking Like Buffett, Part 2

Lucky for us, Investopedia took eight valuable tips from the book The Warren Buffett Portfolio and offers them to the world. Here are the first 4 of the 8 tips for thinking like Warren Buffett as you make investing decisions:

1. Consider stocks a business: Instead of looking at stocks as part of a game, look at is as a business. Buffett says that if people considered themselves “part owners” of the companies they invest in, they would make more deliberate choices and think things through.
2. Make larger investments: Buffett believes that if you do your homework, and make careful decisions, you can choose solid, fundamentally strong companies that you should feel comfortable putting more money into. Yes, you want some diversification. But Buffett feels there’s such a thing as too much of a good thing.
3. Reduce turnover in your portfolio: Constant buying and selling and trying to time things to “make it big” can result in missed growth, as well as adding up the transaction fees that eat into returns.
4. Don’t rely only on stock prices: Buffett looks at the fundamentals of a company, and its potential growth, before making a decision. If you choose a good investment, the stock price will eventually take care of itself.

Tomorrow we will look at the remaining four tips for investing like Warren Buffet.

Image source: Mark Hirschey via Wikimedia Commons

Post from: EveryJoe

8 Tips for Thinking Like Buffett, Part 1

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Russia Refuses To Back Iran Embargo

Putin Says Sanctions Don’t Work … Better To Use Poison

“Trust me, Iranians love sushi….”

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Pepsi iPhone App Offers Guys Pick-Up Lines, Chance To Post ‘Conquests’ On Facebook

iCreep App Proves Hit With Key Stalker Demographic

Wants you to come up to the house for an energy drink and to meet Mom…
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‘It Ain’t Me … It Ain’t Me … I Ain’t No Senator’s Son’

Son of Ex-Governor Charged With Killing Ex-Girlfriend, Abusing His Father

Oooo, they point the cannon at you…

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Model: ‘I Was Fired For Being Too Large’

And…?

“Back the hell away from my chocolate!”

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Anheuser-Busch InBev Sells Theme Parks To Blackstone Equity Group

Wall Street Firm Plans to Introduce New ‘Housing Market’ Roller Coaster; Claims Ride Will Be Scariest Ever

Say what?

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We’re Number One!

Mazda Introduces Car That Runs On Urine; Gas Stations Urge Drivers Not To Top Off Tanks

Dude. Just spring for a bus pass, already…

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Image: Zuma Press

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Post from: EveryJoe

Bizlevity News Headlines — 10/14/09

Ooooh. Have you got the latest, coolest app that lets you check your bank balance anytime from your cell phone? You do?! Really?!

Why?

Oh, I know. It’s for all those days when you’re never near an ATM machine in the course of your daily routine.

The one time in a millennium you don’t pass within 20 feet of a cash machine was predicted in ancient Mayan prophecies, so you’ll want to be ready for that emergency when it comes.

As usual, there’s no shortage of bank marketing types predicting this is the killer app we all need.

Listen to Charles Landry who is in charge of “products and innovation” for VeriSign as he explains why you need to be able to check your bank balance in the middle of your kid’s clarinet performance:

“The economic conditions and the way that we all pay a lot more attention to our money has caused a bit of an uptake in this service … A lot of people certainly micromanage their money much more closely now than they did 24 months ago.”

If I follow Chuck’s line of thinking, every time I open my wallet and look at the three dollars that’s still in there, I’m “micromanaging” my finances.

Man, I can’t imagine what kind of Wall Street mogul I’m going to feel like when I’m able to check seven times a day that my direct deposit paycheck which was wired to the bank yesterday … is still in my account.

Wow. It’s like there some kind of financial magic going on!

Part of the reason the money is still there is probably because I don’t sit on a bus or stand in line at Burger King and type my bank account number and password into my phone where anyone with 20/20 vision can see and copy it.

I really don’t need to micromanage my finances that badly. That’s my wife’s job.

If you want a really snappy iPhone banking app, how about designing a program to tell me which line to get into at the drive-in teller?

I’d pay good money to not get stuck behind the soccer mom who wants to deposit a check, split it up between four accounts and get back allowance money for the three kids plus the seven state quarters she needs to complete the display case on her mantle.

And has none of the paperwork filled out before she pulls in front of me when I’m on my way to catch a plane.

Now, about that blood pressure app…

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“Great. Now I know exactly how broke I am 24 hours a day…”

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Image: Zuma Press

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Post from: EveryJoe

Mobile Banking Is New Annoying Use Of Phone

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT-Sweet Housing Deal) wants to create a super-regulator for banks in an effort to focus government inefficiencies and corruption in one huge agency.

The Senator said, “We clearly need to put in place an architecture that restores confidence and makes people feel that when they engage in financial activities … they can have confidence in the system. On the other side of this, I don’t want to strangle business.”

Dodd went on to clarify his statement saying he didn’t want to strangle business but rather just wanted to have rough sex with the banking industry because “choking the financial industry until it nearly passes out heightens the pleasure of the regulatory screwing.”

The plan for the super-agency is an attempt to place more regulatory power in the hands of Congress and to eliminate much of the independence the Federal Reserve currently enjoys.

Dodd feels strongly that Congressmen facing political and re-election pressures will do a much better job than the Federal Reserve’s team of economists. Much the same as Dodd did when he declared last year that FNMA and FreddieMac were “fundamentally strong” and “to suggest they are in major trouble is not accurate” just months before both agencies were taken over by the government and required a $200 billion bailout.

The super-agency bill also contains clauses which seeks to crack down on overdraft fees charged by banks.

“Senator Dodd thinks overdraft fees are criminal,” according to his spokeswoman, Kirstin Brost.

The Senator’s office would like you to know the real victims here are people who can’t add and subtract. They’re entitled to have the banks give them free money every time they kite a check.

And about that whole charging of fees being “criminal,” why that would almost be like, oh .. I don’t know, a Senator receiving preferential mortgage rates or something.

Dodd’s legislation would also make it easier for the government to seize large companies and regulate executive pay. Dodd defended the proposal citing the tremendous success enjoyed by countries such as Russia, Venezuela and Cuba which have adopted similar plans.

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Senator Dodd says as long as everyone can agree on a safe word, there’s really very little danger to banks…

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Image: Zuma Press

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Post from: EveryJoe

Senator Dodd Wants Bank Super-Regulator

Why is it every government forecast is like a drunken bar bet?

Having the government try to estimate anything is a complete waste of time. It’s like you, after your third pitcher of beer, betting your fat friend he can’t eat seven Whoppers and offering to pay him 50 bucks for every burger he eats over that limit.

And then your buddy eats 23 freakin’ Whoppers.

Which brings us to the $8000 credit for first-time home buyers. The credit was passed by Congress last winter in what everyone agreed was a temporary, one-off, emergency measure to help people weather the credit crisis.

The estimated cost to the government (er… the rest of us who lived within our means, actually) was supposed to be around $7 billion dollars.

And I’m sure you’ll be just as shocked as I was to learn the program is currently projected to run over $15 billion dollars. You can’t name a single thing in your life you’ve guessed at that, six months later, you were off by over 100 percent.

Even your first marriage was probably alright for the first six months.

Oh, and remember that whole “temporary, one-off, emergency” thing? Real estate lobbyists are now arguing the industry can’t live without the credit and it should be made a permanent feature of the housing regulations.

The real estate industry, including the powerful 1.1 million-member National Association of Realtors, wants Congress to extend the credit … The group hopes to expand the program to $15,000 and to allow all buyers, not just those who have been out of the market for at least three years, to qualify. The price tag on that plan: $50 billion to $100 billion.

I’ve got a better idea. Why doesn’t the government just send a huge barrel filled with money to every real estate agent in the country? Then, whenever someone comes in looking to buy a house, the agent can just get a snow shovel and start throwing money at them.

That shouldn’t cost any more than the program already in place.

But then again, that’s only an estimate.

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I’ve got five bucks that says at least half the $8000 credit went to pizza….

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Image: Zuma Press

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Post from: EveryJoe

Give A Lobbyist A Fish…

Automakers To Lose Stars In New Crash Tests

Kanye West, Entire Cast of ‘Entourage’ Lead In Poll By Voters To Elect New Crash Test Dummies

“Yo, I’mma let you finish running into that wall — but the Hindenburg was the best crash of all time…”

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Blockbuster To Close 960 Stores

Move Means You’ll Now Have to Drive Two States Over To Return ‘Clerks’ DVD You’ve Had For Over a Year

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Satan-Worshiping Teen Sets Fire In Church

Patrick Swayze Doing Lousy Job As Heaven’s Bouncer

Be nice … until it’s time not to be nice.

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President Obama Calls Kanye West A ‘Jackass’

Sarah Palin, Leading Republicans Defend Rapper Just For Drill

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Jimmy Carter Says Joe Wilson Outburst ‘Based On Racism’

Jewish Leaders Suggest Ex-President Order Additional Windows For His Own Glass House

Still clueless after all these years…

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Images: Zuma Press

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Post from: EveryJoe

Bizlevity Business News Headlines – 9/16/09