TheDumbMoney (58.69)

Warden, Amazon Just Shived Apple in the Laundryroom!!

September 29, 2011 – Comments (5) | RELATED TICKERS: AAPL , AMZN

This is what is posted currently on the Amazon home page, along with pictures of all of the new Kindles and a further introduction:  [more]

Never Come Late to a Party

September 28, 2011 – Comments (9) | RELATED TICKERS: IAU , GLD , SLV

Peter Brandt, a fantastic trader with a 30(+)-year record trading commodities, and who is a long-term gold bull, nevertheless has this to say today about the shiny gold and silver metals.    [more]

Nibbling At Exxon in the $70/Share Region

September 26, 2011 – Comments (5) | RELATED TICKERS: XOM , SPY

Exxon is my oldest holding (with the possible exception of PM/MO, which I bought as MO around the same time or shortly thereafter).    [more]

Buffett Writing a Put On Buffett

September 26, 2011 – Comments (1) | RELATED TICKERS: BRK-A , BRK-B , SPY

Ok, not really.  But today Berkshire announced authorization for buybacks whenever the stock is 1.10 of book value or below.  Idiots have stated this means Buffett is out of ideas, and I won't go into that.    [more]

At Least Temporarily Broke Above 50 Rating For 1st Time Ever!

September 23, 2011 – Comments (6) | RELATED TICKERS: SPY

Yeah, my expectations are low.

:-)

Still, it's better than the beanie.

Adding to My India ETF

September 22, 2011 – Comments (1) | RELATED TICKERS: EPI , SPY

Well, India, like just about everything else, is getting face-planted today.  So I thought I would double my long-term holding in my preferred India ETF, which is EPI.  Doubled (about) today at $18.18/share.  This started out as an extremely tiny holding for me around $25 or $26/share around the beginning of the year, and now with this addition it is approaching a reasonably-sized position in my portfolio.

Why Gold Tanked Today?

September 22, 2011 – Comments (2) | RELATED TICKERS: GLD , AUY , SPY

One of my fave bloggers, Eddy Elfenbein of Crossing Wall Street, has a post up today about why, according to his "short term real interest rate" model, gold tanked today.  Though it has flaws and many things about the model are unexplained, his model is still the best thing I have seen explaining the price action of gold.  I have written about it numerous times since July when TMFBullnBear introduced me to it, mainly by posting it ad nauseum on various fool writers' gold articles.  The above post is well worth a read, as are the other posts I linked to in my August 25, 2011 post.  [more]

Risk On, Risk Off

September 07, 2011 – Comments (4) | RELATED TICKERS: SPY , KO , AMZN

I feel like Danny LaRusso:  Wax on, wax off.  The market is like Mr. Miyagi.  One day everything is in the red, the next day everything is in the green.  One day "the market is down because of x, y, z," the next day "the market is up because of a, b, c."  Purportedly.  Except that unlike with Mr. Miyagi it all feels like a crock of sh!t to me.  I have never been so depressed as I am today to see everything I own (temporarily) in the green today (after all but two or three were in the red yesterday, and all but one was in the red on Friday).  Really?!?!?  Really!?!?!  I ask myself.  Are things changing that much on a daily basis?  Of course not.  We are 100% in the hands of the algorithms and the algorithmic traders.  Risk on (buy stocks, sell gold and bonds), risk off (sell stocks, buy gold and bonds).  I have no problem with that philosophically, and I don't know that it is a bad thing for the market even.  But stock-picking feels almost pointless right now.  I know it's not really.  But I feel like we are in the twilight zone.  Half are convinced we are at a bottom and corporate earnings reports this fall will drive stocks up.  Half are equally convinced that the downward revisions to earnings have only just begun.  Nobody is euphoric.  Many are depressed, but nobody has thrown in the towel.  Thus, even contrarians have no clear tides to fight against.    [more]