Thursday, September 30, 2010

Ochocinco's Cereal Box charity toll-free phone number is a sex line

The cereal boxes are being recalled, as they had the wrong toll-free prefix.

Instead of Feed the Children, you get a seductress on the other line.

The box had 1 800 HELP-FTC, when it should of been 1 888 HELP-FTC!

Grab 'em!!

Molycorp: The rare earth metals momentum play

Molycorp is the only rare earth oxide (REO) producer in the Western hemisphere, and outside of China, it owns one of the largest and most fully developed rare earth projects.

China has curtailed REE exports, and along with Japan and Korea, these nations are building strategic stockpies.
It's front page news in Japan.

And also here in the States, as everyone is sick of China muscling the world.


Bloomberg had this story today:
Pentagon Loses Control of Bombs to China Metal Monopoly

A senior manager at a company that churns out metals routinely used in U.S. smart bombs pauses in mid-sentence when his phone rings: a Wall Street stockbroker looking for information. He makes a note to have an assistant call back -- someone who is fluent in English, not just Chinese.
“It’s a seller’s market now,” says Bai Baosheng, 43, puffing a cigarette in his office in Baotou, China, where his company sells bags of powder containing a metallic element known as neodymium, vital in tiny magnets that direct the fins of bombs dropped by U.S. Air Force jets in Afghanistan.

A generation after Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping made mastering neodymium and 16 other elements known as rare earths a priority, China dominates the market, with far-reaching effects ranging from global trade friction to U.S. job losses and threats to national security.

The U.S. handed its main economic rival power to dictate access to these building blocks of modern weapons by ceding control of prices and supply, according to dozens of interviews with industry executives, congressional leaders and policy experts. China in July reduced rare-earth export quotas for the rest of the year by 72 percent, sending prices up more than sixfold for some elements.

------
And then we had this news:

By a vote of 325-98, the House passed H.R. 6160, the Rare Earths and Critical Materials Revitalization Act.

Rare Earths and Critical Materials Revitalization Act of 2010 – Establishes in the Department of Energy (DOE) a research, development, and commercial application program to assure the long-term, secure, and sustainable supply of rare earth materials to satisfy the national security, economic well-being, and industrial production needs of the United States.

Directs the Secretary of Energy (Secretary) to: (1) support new or significantly improved processes and technologies (as compared to those currently in use in the rare earth materials industry); (2) encourage multidisciplinary collaborations and opportunities for students at institutions of higher education; (3) collaborate with the relevant directorates of the European Commission to coordinate activities; (4) establish a Research and Development Information Center to catalogue, disseminate, and archive information on rare earth materials; and (5) submit an implementation plan to Congress.

So enter Wall Street to fill the news with a stock.

From the prospectus, of their IPO:

• the Mountain Pass mine is the largest non-Chinese rare earth deposit in the world;

• other U.S. rare earth deposits exist, but these deposits are still in early exploratory stages of development;

• officials emphasized the significance of the widespread use of commercial-off-the-shelf products in defense systems that include rare earth materials, such as computer hard drives;

• heavy REEs, such as dysprosium, which provide much of the heat-resistant qualities of permanent magnets used in many industry and defense applications, are considered to be important;

• government and industry officials told the U.S. GAO that where rare earth materials are used in defense systems, the materials are responsible for the functionality of the component and would be difficult to replace without losing performance;

• a 2009 National Defense Stockpile configuration report identified lanthanum, cerium, europium and gadolinium as having already caused some kind of weapon system production delay and recommended further study to determine the severity of the delays; and

• defense systems will likely continue to depend on rare earth materials, based on their life cycles and lack of effective substitutes.

And what does Molycorp want to do?

Build the largest, most advanced and efficient fully integrated REO processing facility in the world.

The stock is easy to trade, they trade good volume in the options, and it moves around alot.

It's only been public a couple months and it has already doubled--they raised about $400 million, but now the Wall Street hype machine has taken over.

You can play the hype both ways with this name!

Because Wall Street always loves a story no-one understands!

Best September in 70 years

Why don't they trot out the Hindenburg Omen now?

Oh that's right. They did before we rallied 10%.

And before we had the best September in 70 years!

At least, now we are high enough now for a pullback, so the bears can warn about a bloody October!!

For a couple days!

The Squid turns sour on regional gaming


Barclays: MGM's City Center will have +ive EBITDA

Yesterday, we attended a group investor lunch with Dan D'Arrigo, Chief Financial Officer of MGM Resorts International. The company reiterated its expectation for RevPAR growth in the second half of 2010 and all of 2011, driven by improvement in convention booking volumes and rate. CityCenter continues to ramp as Aria occupancy improves and the property gains convention tracking into 2011. In general, MGM management reiterated their priorities of deleveraging the company's balance sheet, growing the convention business and improving operations at CityCenter.

MGM continues to expect its Las Vegas Strip RevPAR to grow in the second half of 2010 and in 2011, driven by improving convention bookings. MGM is currently seeing solid booking volumes for the remainder of 2010 ("in the year, for the year"), and convention ADR is expected to be up year-over-year in the second half of 2010. In 2011, convention and group ADR is expected to be up double digits over 2010. MGM's convention room mix is expected to be 13% to 14% in 2011 (compared to a peak of 16%).

CityCenter continues to build its base of both convention and leisure customers. Occupancy at Aria has been running in the mid 80s since the end of 2Q10. Convention bookings have accelerated; Aria has filled 80% to 85% of its convention business for 2011 at higher ADRs than 2010. On the gaming side, the property has been well received by high-end baccarat customers and slot volumes are second in MGM's portfolio only to Bellagio. Areas that need improvement include shows and restaurants. CityCenter should be EBITDA positive this quarter.

Here's Mr. Stephan from GMAC--the robo signer that helped facilitate the fraud on the homeowners that lost their homes to foreclosure





Isn't that special? He signed 10,000 affidavits a month, saying that he had "personal knowledge" of the facts. So the lawyers create fictitious documents, and they have a shill like Stephan, sign the documents, saying that the fraudaulent mortgage documents that these bankstas have created are genuine.

And you think this guy is bad? Just wait until you see the clowns from JPM!!!

The bankstas have already been paid on many of these mortgages so they try and tak ethe home with fraudaulent documents.

And they have the audacity to create these fraudaulent documents and purport them to be genuine in our courts.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Goldman option strategy before earnings--Take flyers on AAPL and GOOG


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Do the Investor Intelligence polls mean anything?


Apparently not!
Not since bears have become an endangered species.

But they're not just shooting them on Wall Street.

They are dropping dead bears off at the neighborhood mall!!



Sun reflected from Vegas hotel burns pool patrons



The Vdara death ray. It melts plastic!

A reporter from the Las Vegas Review-Journal made two trips to the pool and saw the 10-foot by 15-foot hot zone. As the Earth rotates, the hot spot shifts across the pool area. During the summer, it was noticeable for about 90 minutes before and after noon, the reporter discovered from pool employee interviews. The ray can increase temperatures 20 degrees in the zone.

Pintas said that polyethylene newspaper bags melt at between 120 and 130 degrees. A plastic cup melts at around 160 degrees.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

The latest screed from Bill Gross

•The New Normal has a new set of rules. What once pumped asset prices and favored the production of paper, as opposed to things, is now in retrograde.

•The hard cold reality from Stan Druckenmiller’s “old normal” is that prosperity and overconsumption was driven by asset inflation that in turn was leverage and interest rate correlated.

•Investors are faced with 2.5% yielding bonds and stocks staring straight into new normal real growth rates of 2% or less. There is no 8% there for pension funds. There are no stocks for the long run at 12% returns.

So the hedgies are in retreat and, in some cases, on the run. Ken Griffin at Citadel is considering cutting fees, and Stan Druckenmiller at Duquesne/ex-Soros is packing his bags for the golf course. Frustrated at his inability to replicate the accustomed 30% annualized returns that his business model and expertise produced over the past several decades, Stan is throwing in the towel. Who’s to blame him? I don’t. I respect him, not only for his financial wizardry, but his philanthropy which includes not only writing big checks, but spending lots of time with personal causes such as the Harlem Children’s Zone. And at 57, he’s certainly learned how to smell more roses, pick more daisies, and replace more divots than yours truly has at the advancing age of 66. So way to go Stan. Enjoy.

But his departure and Mr. Griffin’s price-cutting are more than personal anecdotes. They are reflective of a broader trend in the capital markets, one which saw the availability of cheap financing drive asset prices to unsustainable heights during the dotcom and housing bubble of the past decade, and then suffered the slings and arrows of a liquidity crisis in 2008 to date. Similarly, liquidity at a discount drove lots of other successful business models over the past 25 years: housing, commercial real estate, investment banking, goodness – dare I say, investment management – but for them, its destination is more likely to be a semi-permanent rest stop than a freeway. The New Normal has a new set of rules. What once pumped asset prices and favored the production of paper, as opposed to things, is now in retrograde. Leverage and deregulation are fading from the horizon and their polar opposites are in the ascendant. Some characterize it in biblical terms – seven fat years to be followed by seven years of lean. Others like Michael Moore and Oliver Stone describe it in terms of social justice – greed no longer is good. And the hedgies – well, they just take their ball and go home. What, after all, is the use of competing if you can’t play by the old rules?

Aliens have deactivated US and British missiles??

According to the Telegraph.....

Must have a Wall Street crowd. They'll believe anything!!!  Oh that's right. The telegraph is the paper that has the editorials of Ambrose-Evans Britchard!!
--------------------------


"The beings have repeated their efforts in the US and have been active since 1948, the men said, and accused the respective governments of trying to keep the information secret.

The unlikely claims were compiled by six former US airmen and another member of the military who interviewed or researched the evidence of 120 ex-military personnel.

The information they have collected suggests that aliens could have landed on Earth as recently as seven years ago.

The men's aim is to press the two governments to recognise the long-standing extra-terrestrial visits as fact.

They are to be presented on Monday 27 September at a meeting in Washington.

One of the men, Capt Robert Salas, said: "The US Air Force is lying about the national security implications of unidentified aerial objects at nuclear bases and we can prove it."

He said said he witnessed such an event first-hand on March 16, 1967, at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana which housed Minuteman nuclear missiles.

Capt Salas continued: "I was on duty when an object came over and hovered directly over the site.

"The missiles shut down - 10 Minuteman missiles. And the same thing happened at another site a week later. There's a strong interest in our missiles by these objects, wherever they come from. I personally think they're not from planet Earth."

Others claim to have seen similar activity in the UK.

Col Charles Halt said he saw a UFO at the former military base RAF Bentwaters, near Ipswich, 30 years ago, during which he saw beams of light fired into the base then heard on the military radio that aliens had landed inside the nuclear storage area.

He said: "I believe that the security services of both the United States and the United Kingdom have attempted - both then and now - to subvert the significance of what occurred at RAF Bentwaters by the use of well-practised methods of disinformation."

The site was then the base of the US 81st Tactical Fighter Wing.

Capt Bruce Fenstermacher, a former US Air Force officer, also claims he saw a cigar-shaped UFO hovering above a nuclear base in Wyoming in 1976."

Ike Ditzenberger's 51 yard TD run



Ike has Down Syndrome.

story

Richard Russell's letter

For subscription, go here:


RRussell

Declaring victory on NFLX!

OK--enough already--and this stock is priced to perfection--despite Cramer telling his viewers that NFLX's model used in Canada can be taken around the world.

What a new idea. Streaming movies!

When NFLX was at 18, and the NY Times was telling you to sell it, along with "dark forecast" on Wall Street, because they had a flap on their envelops that got stuck in the mail sorters, and Citigroup was "concerned"  I said you had to buy it.


At 162? And with Blockbuster bankrupt--once again--how did that pair trade of shorting NFLX and long Blockbuster work? Tell, me again, please, you shortsellers???

But now every momo guy in the world has to own it.

You can have it.

It's too hot for me.

I'm out--I'm gone--Good riddance!!!!!

Goldman: September S&P outperformance driven by psychology


GS_main_uno_0928

When will these folks be held accountable????

Oh My!!!!!

What if shortsellers played football instead of touting stocks and the economy down??

Where would be the bags??

Here's what they would do. They would look for some macro point in the economy in the United States, and then, use that to pick stocks, disregarding the fact that we live in a world economy. So maybe, they could look at Las Vegas, and see that taxable sales rose 5.3% last month, for the best performance in years, and then, say that Vegas might be a buy.

But of course, they might ponder that point now, but never when the stocks where under $2.

Which is the difference between this blog and Wall Street.

Remember when the Imperial rating agencies downgraded the debt of LVS. When the stock was $1.77? You got the buy recomendation on the stock then! Back on March 13, 2009.

You got the buy recomendation on LVS (1.77) yesterday. Their debt was downgraded again by the imperial rating agencies, run by these kids with spreadsheets!

Now the rating agencies are looking at their debt with a rosier outlook. But this time, you can even buy the improved outlook, because Wall Street now even needs to make the idiots look bright, because they need the public back.

So now, in LVS we should start getting the moves that make the public excited.

A bigger ramp!!!

With the higher price providing the caffeine!!

Monday, September 27, 2010

See if you can pick out LSU's new basketball player in the band lineup

LVS breaks out to new highs

It had help. Deutsche Bank had a good report on the Singapore Gaming market; and specifically on Genting. Check Genting's market cap with LVS--and then look at the properties that LVS has and then do the math.


singapore

Furthermore, you had these notes by DB out on Macau:

Macau - (Karen Tang) 4Q looks bright; but some less than others - Raising Macau gaming revenue forecast from 50% to 54% On our recent trip, Macau was buzzing. Mass gaming floors are busy and junkets continue to see capital inflows. This new wave of liquidity from casinos should boost 4Q revenues, especially after a seasonally soft Sept. We raise 2010 gaming revenue growth from 50% to 54%, implying HK$17bn/month in 4Q, a new high. Channel checks suggest that one of the casino operators is offering attractive front money to lure two big junkets currently at Wynn. This may pose risks to Wynn's market share, at least short term. Our top picks are SJM, MPEL & Sands China.


You also have 44.5 million shares short on LVS; and these shorts need to be taken out on a strecher. SI has increased 1.5 million shares from the last month.

Who is shorting LVS?

 Probably the same jokers that stayed short on NFLX!

Goldman's latest


GS_main_uno_0927

Bears cry UNCLE!!!

They've been grilled!!!

Couldn't happen to a more moronic bunch!!!

Friday, September 17, 2010

JPM on RIMM


jpmrimm

Goldman on tech: Put on your rally caps


GS_Techs


gs_main_uno_0917

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Citi and Goldman's morning take


Citi_NAmerica


GS_main_uno_0915

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Monday, September 13, 2010

Goldman's latest


GS_main_uno_0913

Buy the banks!!

Why aren't they buys? Last week, Fleckenstein said he wouldn't buy the banks with a gun to his head!

JPM always leads the parade, but I like WFC better.

Friday, September 10, 2010

JPM now touts the 16% pre/post election move

Now that we are already 6% into it!

"Equity markets have performed with remarkable consistence following midterm elections, with a median gain of 1.4% from September to Election Day and a 14.7% median performance in the six months following Election Day. This positive return was seen 18 of 22 times since 1920 (or 82%). We believe this reflects voter referendums – that is, if Congress sees a shift in majority (markets are relieved) and if there is no change, the result is a more “centrist” Washington. Returns were consistent, incidentally, whether midterms resulted in change of majority (gains 5 of 6 times, median gain of 11%) or no change in party majority at all (gains 13 of 16 times, median gain of 17.3%)."

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Patriot's Tom Brady gets in a car wreck

Hindenburg Omen turns out to be a car wreck for the bears!!!

Remember the "dreaded Hindenburg Omen" that was supposed to presage a crash in the stock market?

How many of you got sucked in by that?

At least it wasn't bought over here!!!

As Advertised!!!!!

Monday, August 16, 2010


The Hindenburg Omen

Last time we had a bottom in the market we had the dreaded "death cross." Now this  time, we had the weekend news of the Hindenburg Omen, which supposedly would presage a crash in the stock market, because new highs and new lows were distributed fairly evenly.

Newsflash. The Hindenburg has already crashed, and so has the stock market. This "Omen" will once again, just mark another bottom in the bull's ascent!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

"Recovery Summer?"

Who looks this good falling?


“Well, you know, at first I was like, ‘OK, I should have hit that first shot better.’ But then I was, ‘OK, I’m at the net.’ Then I see her lobbing me. OK, I have to go back. Then I fall on my butt. I’m like, ‘OK, well, tough luck, I lost this point.’ Then I look back, and I couldn’t see whether it was in and out. Then I look at the linesman, I see it’s out. I’m like, ‘OK, I was pretty lucky.’ You know, I thought it was quite funny, too.”

Big Government's motto: Just Tax it

Sales Tax
Hotel Tax
School Tax
Liquor Tax
Luxury Tax
Utility Taxes
Excise Taxes
Property Tax
Cigarette Tax
Medicare Tax
Inventory Tax
Car Rental Tax
Real Estate Tax
Well Permit Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Inheritance Tax
Road Usage Tax
CDL license Tax
Dog License Tax
State Income Tax
Food License Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Gross Receipts Tax
Social Security Tax
Service Charge Tax
Fishing License Tax
Federal Income Tax
Building Permit Tax
IRS Interest Charges
Hunting License Tax
Marriage License Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Personal Property Tax
Accounts Receivable Tax
Recreational Vehicle Tax
Workers Compensation Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Vehicle License Registration Tax
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service FeeTax
Gasoline Tax (currently 44.75 cents per gallon)
Telephone Recurring and Nonrecurring Charges Tax

Cash Cows



cashcows -

Saturday, September 4, 2010

"Bet the Max!!!"





I went to Atlantic City  and stopped by the Hilton to play some slots, and a lady put $50 in the Wheel of Fortune machine. On a previous spin, she had three 7's but had only bet one coin, so her husband then told her, to "bet the max." So with $35 in the machine, she bets the max--5 lines of .50 each.

She hit the progressive.

$1,114,449.85.

I asked her husband, what he was getting because she listened to him. He said--85 cents!!!

Anyway, it was fun seeing a couple win a million dollars with just one pull of the slot!

And I suppose you could say that I played the wrong machine!