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FTSE Rise Fueled by Banks
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 share index pushed higher on Wednesday, boosted by oils and gains in the heavyweight banking sector following solid results from Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Chartered.
ck index futures signaled a firmer Wall Street opening and offset the effects of moderate late selling in New York overnight.
Banks added 19 points to the leading index, with sector giant Royal Bank of Scotland up 3.9 percent and Standard Chartered topping the blue-chip risers with an eight percent gain after the release of reassuring results.
"Royal Bank of Scotland's results are giving the sector a fillip, and they prove what a resilient company it is," said one dealer.
Oils gave a further 13 points to the leading index, with shares in BP and Shell each rising around two percent. But shares in drugmaker AstraZeneca extended Tuesday's sharp fall, edging down 0.9 percent as investors continued to fret about a likely delay to the U.S. launch of its cholesterol-lowering drug Crestor. A downgrade from investment bank Schroder Salomon Smith Barney to "neutral" from "buy" was also weighing on the stock, dealers said.
http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/020807/britain_markets_stocks_1.html
Microsoft to Reveal Windows Code
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - News) will reveal hundreds of pieces of proprietary computer code from its monopoly Windows operating system in the next several weeks to comply with an antitrust settlement it signed with the U.S. Justice Department last year, the company said on Monday.
The software giant said the disclosures are part of its first steps to comply with the settlement that must still be approved by a federal judge and remains opposed by nine state attorneys general seeking stiffer sanctions.
Microsoft said it plans to disclose nearly 400 pieces of computer code and internal operating rules, previously kept secret, which outside software developers can use to write programs to run on Windows.
"With these new (disclosures), software developers will have additional development choices in designing their Windows programs," the company said in a statement.
http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/020805/microsoft_code_12.html
Morgan Stanley: Recession Risk Remains
HONG KONG (Reuters) - The U.S. economy could slip back into recession later this year on faltering consumer demand, with interest rate cuts again shaking the global financial markets, investment bank Morgan Stanley said on Thursday.
"There's a 40 percent chance that U.S. GDP growth could turn negative some time in the second half of this year," Stephen Roach, chief economist at Morgan Stanley, told reporters via a video conference from London.
"If that were to occur, one of the bigger surprises will be that the next move of the U.S. Federal Reserve will not be to tighten interest rates, but actually to cut interest rates," Roach said.
Morgan Stanley said it has revised down its estimate of growth in world trade volume in 2002 to 2.9 percent from an earlier 3.2 percent, and to 8.2 percent from 8.6 percent in 2003.
"That's usually a leading indicator of cuts we're about to make to our world GDP forecast. We have a very sluggish outlook for global trade growth," Roach said.
The U.S. investment bank is still forecasting global GDP growth of 2.7 percent in 2002 and four percent in 2003, but could soon revise the figures downwards.
Asian economies will be particularly hard hit given the region's high export dependency.
"There's a urgent imperative for Asia to focus increasingly on domestic demand. But it's very difficult to convert a culture of savings into a culture of spending. It's a long haul and it won't change over two to three years," Roach said.
Roach said the bank was retaining its baseline scenario of a seven percent depreciation of the U.S. dollar in each of 2002 and 2003, but hiked the chances of a "hard landing" to 15 percent from five percent.
Morgan Stanley defines a hard landing as the U.S. dollar depreciating by more than three percent per month.
"Like any overvalued asset whose fundamentals are negative, there's always the chance you could accelerate on the downside," he added.
The dollar has lost almost six percent of its value against the yen (JPY=) and 7.65 percent against the euro (EUR=) so far this year, weighed down by fragile stock market sentiment and a looming current account deficit.
It fell to a 17-month low of $0.959 against the euro (EUR=) on Thursday and remained vulnerable across the board.
"The U.S. dollar is in the early stages of a multi-year correction. It will take the dollar down at least 20 percent trade weighted, we've probably accomplished about one fourth of that move," Roach said.
http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/020620/economy_usa_recession_1.html
Eurostocks Near 9-Month Lows, NY Seen Down
By William Kemble-Diaz
LONDON (Reuters) - Weaker European markets hovered near nine-month lows by midday Thursday, dragged down by technology and telecom shares as U.S. stock index futures turned down amid doubts over the outlook for company earnings.
France Telecom and ARM Holdings led the fallers.
Dealers added that the specter of a double-dip recession had reared its ugly head after recent soft economic data, citing bearish comments by influential economist Stephen Roach of Morgan Stanley, and speculation that the next move in U.S. interest rates could be down not up.
While that is contested in some circles, the consensus among strategists was that there was no compelling reason for markets to head higher in the short-term.
"The scale of overinvestment in the boom period was so exceptional, we are now seeing an exceptional correction," said Antwerp-based Gert de Mesure, head of equity strategy at Delta Lloyd Securities.
A bounce in Finland's Nokia, after the world's biggest handset maker cut its sales forecasts but maintained its full-year earnings guidance, was short-lived as a deep gloom once again descended over the depressed technology sector, amid a U.S. anti-trust investigation into the global chip industry.
At 1122 GMT the FTSE Eurotop 300 index of pan-European blue chips was 1.9 percent weaker at 1,055 points, just eight points off last week's trough -- its lowest level since late September.
The narrower DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index shed 2.41 percent.
Europe's technology and telecom sectors were broadly back to levels last seen in 1997.
Fund managers, nonetheless, were reluctant to throw in the towel, citing areas in the old economy such as food & beverage and basic resources that had exhibited good capital discipline and were benefiting from an improvement in underlying demand.
They also noted that valuations in higher tech areas had improved as a result of recent market weakness.
"The market is still rewarding those sectors that deliver on their guidance and are even accelerating their earnings guidance, but some value is also beginning to appear in more depressed sectors, albeit very selectively," said Sarah Austin, a European equities fund manager for Barings Asset Management.
TWIN TELECOM TRAUMA
France Telecom said it had reached a tentative debt restructuring deal with lenders to its embattled German mobile operating partner MobilCom in return for a security convertible into the French company's shares.
No further details were available and the deal has yet to be signed, but that did not stop shares in France Telecom slumping by nine percent to new all-time lows.
BT fell 3.3 percent after Britain's telecoms regulator said competitors to the former monopoly would be allowed to offer a full phone service, including line rental and calls, through a new wholesale access product.
In a note, Bear Stearns said the move could have negative implications for BT.
Nokia fell 3.7 percent after the Finnish telecom equipment group lowered its forecast for second-half sales growth to "up to 10 percent" from an earlier forecast of at least 15 percent.
The stock earlier traded more than four percent higher in a knee-jerk reaction to news the Finnish group remained comfortable with its earlier stated guidance for full-year pro-forma diluted earnings-per-share of 0.83 euros.
CHIPS ARE DOWN
Staying in tech, chip makers and chip-related stocks were still spooked by Wednesday's news U.S. antitrust officials are investigating the $12 billion global memory chip industry.
German chip maker Infineon Technologies and British chip designer ARM fell 6.25 percent and 9.5 percent respectively.
Elsewhere, shares in Reuters Group hit an eight-and-a-half-year low as investors took fright at a plan to step up its cost-cutting drive.
The world's biggest provider of financial news and information said it would cut another 650 jobs to save an extra 100 million pounds a year -- but media analysts said some investors had taken the move as a sign revenues were under increasing strain.
Weak British retail sales data, meanwhile, gave investors a reminder about the fragile state of the economic recovery in Europe at a time when policymakers are thought to be considering a rise in local interest rates.
British clothing retailers Next and Marks & Spencer fell by 3.1 percent and 3.7 percent respectively.
Switzerland's second-biggest bank Credit Suisse fell 1.7 percent after it injected capital into its Winterthur insurance unit.
Credit Suisse said it was putting 600 million Swiss francs in fresh capital into Winterthur to reinforce its solvency margin, which had fallen due to negative financial markets and strong growth in its business.
http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/020620/markets_europe_stocks_6.html
Pretty impressive article on Rumsfeld....
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020619/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/rumsfeld_money_6&am...
Nasdaq T/A
Currently at 1496. The yearly closed low is 1423, trading low is 1387. Expect the Nasdaq to atleast fall below the closed low (1423) within 2 weeks. Look at previous rally attempts (shown in chart below). All previous rallies failed because Nasdaq was not bottomed out. Look for bottom before rally can succeed.
On the chart below, the blue line is the short term support line. Notice how it is not steep enough for the Nasdaq to fall below about 1400 (in a reasonable amount of time), which is close to the 1423 and 1387 support lines I mentioned.
Let's see what happens when the Nasdaq bottoms out (hopefully) in a week or so.
Alert (Long) - IMNY
Stochastic (daily) breakout and soon to be breakout on weekly chart. MACD (daily & weekly) also trending higher. But under 3.50, and sell over 5.50, IMO.
Here is the weekly stochastic with candlesticks.
Alert (Short) - USNA
Totally topped out on MACD and Stochastic. Momentum moves in a zip zag motion, and is currently topped out again. You can use support and resistance for reading momentum patterns too! USNA is also near it's resistance level too that was established back in January of 2000. Short it to about 5 or until momentum bottoms out.
If anyone is interested in seeing any other Proposed Rules by the SEC. Here is the link: http://www.sec.gov/rules/proposed.shtml
6/15/02 - New Site Added To Research Links
The site is called Wealth-Lab.com (http://www.wealth-lab.com/ ). I found this site to be very unique and to offer a great new approach to technical analysis. Members of the site submit scripts that follow a certain trading pattern, and you type in which stock you want to execute on that script, and it tells you how well that trading script would have done with that stock. It's very interesting. The site also includes many other T/A related features.
http://www.wealth-lab.com/
It's free to sign up and use for the most part, but their script building/testing software is $650. The software is only for those who wish to program scripts and submit them. I wouldn't recommend buying it unless you have extremely serious about it. It's not a necessity.
This board certainly has an open attitude
It's not run by communists/RB admins. Anyone is welcome to post here as long as they follow the RB TOS, with the exception of cursing. I believe cursing should be allowed, as long as it not directed towards someone.
And then considering the unusually flowery closing of the submitted document:
I don't understand why you posted that. I wrote my letter assuming that they do take into consideration the public's opinion, so if they do actually do such a thing, my letter is properly formatted.
I would imagine that the SEC, like most corporate organizations, would have their staff back-check the writer's address to it's P.O. Box in S.E. Nebraska, check for business licenses and/or corporate registrations, do a cursory search through Who's Who, and then weight it appropriately in their deliberations.
What would it matter who it's from? I may have a better understanding on the situation than President Bush, but because he's the leader of the free world, does that mean they should listen to him instead? Ofcourse not.
Always nice to see someone giving it the old college try, however.
Keep up the good work.
I don't understand that comment, and I sense sarcasm. I think you should be careful what you say on iHub, your online image is already on edge. Personal attacks won't improve it.
Sometimes you make us think you are schizo.
I actually saw a commercial on television yesterday that was directed towards parents to give them clues to see if their kids were on meth. Some of the "clues" described my lifestyle! LOL Paranoia, long periods of time w/o sleep, then taking long naps, and a few others. I had to double check to see if I WAS on meth, LOL. I'm not on meth though, lol.
And you really are reading all of my posts, LOL. yikes.
Damn, Joe. Sometimes you make us think you are schizo. You can write so well and be so dang intelligent. And other times....
Excellent letter though.
From: marketreporter [marketreporter@cox.net]
Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2002 4:06 AM
To: marketreporter; rule-comments@sec.gov
Subject: Rule Comments (S7-17-02) - .txt file attached
Comments on Rule: S7-17-02 "Proposed Amendments to Investment Company Advertising Rules"
To the Securities and Exchange Commission,
It has come to my attention that you have proposed a rule/amendment regarding the
SEC's policy towards advertising for investment companies. I personally, am glad that
such a matter has come to your attention, especially in such a weary market. The fact
that many, or perhaps all, investment companies lack the moral sense to disclose the
details behind their performance is a problem which causes many people to be misled into
services they would not otherwise be interested in, such as a high risk mutual fund.
A typical example of this would be an investment company advertising its mutual fund's
6 month performance from the date September 21, 2002 (post-9/11/02 low) to March 21, 2002.
During this time period, the Nasdaq gained approximately 31%. For the sake of argument,
we'll say that this mutual fund's gains ran parallel with the Nasdaq. The investment
company would then go and advertise it's 6-month, 31% gain either on television, in print,
or where ever else. The potential clients that would see this advertisement, would then
be falsely informed and would not know that the performance advertised by the company was
altered and such returns were not typical. The current disclosure used by most investment
companies "Past performance is no indication of future results," is not enough and does not
at all give details about the company's specific performance. My example may have been an
extreme case of such deception, but nonetheless, is still a reasonable and realistic case.
Other investment companies may not be as bold, but deception is deception, no matter how
extreme it is.
I personally, would like to see the SEC set a standard time period for advertising
performance. For example, all investment companies would be required to only advertise
their performance during an SEC approved time period, which the SEC believes is a
balanced period that would reflect average returns in the stock market. This would defeat
the altering of dates on investment time periods to improve market returns. An expert
SEC panel would analyze the market to choose a proper time period that would be fair and
average. Investment companies misleading investors should not at all be allowed.
I support your actions.
Thank You for your time,
Joseph M. Jaros Jr. a.k.a. Joemoney
Investor
President/CEO of MarketReporter.com
& United States Citizen
SEC Just Posted.
http://www.sec.gov/rules/proposed/s71702.shtml
I wonder if they actually take into consideration any of the suggestions/comments, or just post them to give the public a false sense of "say so" in SEC matters.
SEC Comments Submitted
I made the following comments on this proposed rule:
http://www.sec.gov/rules/proposed/33-8101.htm
I will inform this thread of when it is published on the SEC website (http://www.sec.gov/ )
Comments on Rule: S7-17-02 "Proposed Amendments to Investment Company Advertising Rules"
To the Securities and Exchange Commission,
It has come to my attention that you have proposed a rule/amendment regarding the SEC's policy towards advertising for investment companies. I personally, am glad that such a matter has come to your attention, especially in such a weary market. The fact that many, or perhaps all, investment companies lack the moral sense to disclose the details behind their performance is a problem which causes many people to be misled into services they would not otherwise be interested in, such as a high risk mutual fund.
A typical example of this would be an investment company advertising its mutual fund's 6 month performance from the date September 21, 2002 (post-9/11/02 low) to March 21, 2002. During this time period, the Nasdaq gained approximately 31%. For the sake of argument, we'll say that this mutual fund's gains ran parallel with the Nasdaq. The investment company would then go and advertise it's 6-month, 31% gain either on television, in print, or where ever else. The potential clients that would see this advertisement, would then be falsely informed and would not know that the performance advertised by the company was altered and such returns were not typical. The current disclosure used by most investment companies "Past performance is no indication of future results," is not enough and does not at all give details about the company's specific performance. My example may have been an extreme case of such deception, but nonetheless, is still a reasonable and realistic case. Other investment companies may not be as bold, but deception is deception, no matter how
extreme it is.
I personally, would like to see the SEC set a standard time period for advertising performance. For example, all investment companies would be required to only advertise their performance during an SEC approved time period, which the SEC believes is a balanced period that would reflect average returns in the stock market. This would defeat the altering of dates on investment time periods to improve market returns. An expert SEC panel would analyze the market to choose a proper time period that would be fair and average. Investment companies misleading investors should not at all be allowed.
I support your actions.
Thank You for your time,
Joseph M. Jaros Jr.
Investor
President/CEO of MarketReporter.com
& United States Citizen
Mon 8:36am CTXS Washington School Information Processing Cooperative Provides Remote Web-based Application Access with Citrix MetaFrame XP - Business Wire
Mon 8:36am CTXS Citrix Delivers Remote Access to Instructional Resources for Schools in Plano, Texas - Business Wire
stocko4949, Looks like your DNAP is starting to get some noticable revenue in.
http://biz.yahoo.com/fin/l/d/dnap.ob.html
Their next quarterly report will be interesting. I don't however, like the fact that they are issuing so much stock.
During the first three months of 2002, we issued 5,055,555 shares of common stock for $271,000.
http://www.edgar-online.com/bin/edgardoc/finSys_main.asp?dcn=0001070876-02-000031
I was never a fan of companies that issue stock only to raise money to fund operations. But I don't see any other major concerns in their recent 10-q filing.
Joemoney
mikey, I'm glad you've found CTXS.
I strongly believe in the $20 price target, and without irrational exuberance, I believe $20 is quite modest. This current CEO situation is a great time for investors to step in. This is a very attractive price, IMO.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=CTXS&d=t
Joemoney
Gerard Klauer Mattison & Co., Inc.
CTXS: reit buy - TGT$20; Yesterday, we hosted a client breakfast with several members of the Citrix management team following the launch of the company's Nfuse Elite product launch in New York on June 3. We view the Nfuse Elite access portal opportunity as attractive and believe it could spur additional MetaFrame sales.
Joe,
It appears that Lord Ernie is a member of or runs one or two investment clubs.
One seems to be in Belgium and another in Flanders,(wherever the hell that is).
I've been receiving his newsletters for some time,(two years?) and he always seems to have good information that's ahead of the rest of the investment community.
I couldn't tell you if his newsletters catch Penny plays at the beginning of a trend or if his newsletters start the trend,
but, as far as I can tell, his information always seems to be complete and accurate.
Based on the information that GECC management has been putting out, the investor interest would have been there anyhow.
Lord Ernie just found it first.
With Penny Stocks it's always a good possibility that management is running some kind of scam.
As for GECC, my jury is still out.
You're banned from Market Watch until you stop this parade of idiot posts.
Market Watch - http://www.investorshub.com/boards/board.asp?board_id=768
Intelligent conversation regarding anything market related.
Sorry, I don't express myself that well. eom
no, You replies just don't make a whole lot of sense.
Market Watch - http://www.investorshub.com/boards/board.asp?board_id=768
Intelligent conversation regarding anything related to the markets.
1393 geeze do I sound that bearish? LOL eom
thifty, I think we can rule out the market going into a deeper recession by just looking at the fact that there won't be any nuclear bombs dropped in the middle east. What America needs is to feel safe from terrorists, and that is going to be the markets main concern for a while. If nothing happens between now and December of 2002, I can see the market beginning to feel a sense of comfort and safety. However, let's hope the government stays on "paranoid" mode, as it is right now.
Joemoney
Scrooge, Do you know where Lord Ernie's newsletter campaign for GECC started?
http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/quickchart/quickchart.asp?symb=gecc&sid=0&o_symb=gecc&f....
Interesting volume pick up. I'm curious to know if these people are investors just finding out about it, or victims of newsletter spam.
And looks like a bottom is @ .03.
thrifty, Are you asking which sectors would lead if the market fell to the 1393 bottom? Or the 661 bottom?
What's with Greenspan/Bush talking in an unscheduled meeting? sheesh! Is this correct? Let's just scare everyone.
hmmm Were we bouncing off positive rumors? I can't prove it.
O.K Joemoney Lets kick it...
Say we break the 1393 and touch a new bottom for the short term. We bounce and we bounce up hard. What sector(s) do you think will lead it?
And don't say the ones that bleed lead. LOL!
Musharraf: Nuclear War Unlikely
Sat Jun 1, 5:39 PM ET
By PAUL ALEXANDER, Associated Press Writer
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistan's president, stopping short of matching India's pledge not to use nuclear weapons first, said Saturday "any sane individual" would not allow tensions between the two nations to escalate into a nuclear war.
However, the growing fear of a wider conflict between the nations prompted the United Nations (news - web sites) on Saturday to tell its staffers in the region to send their families home. France, Israel and South Korea (news - web sites) joined the list of nations advising their citizens to leave the region as the South Asian neighbors continued shelling each other along their border, killing at least eight people.
In an interview with CNN, Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said nuclear conflict was unthinkable. He also restated his willingness to negotiate with India.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) has offered to mediate during next week's regional summit in Kazakhstan, which is to be attended by Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
India's defense minister said Saturday there was no sign of a reconciliation with Pakistan. India has demanded that Pakistan first stop cross-border incursions by Islamic militants blamed by New Delhi for two major terrorist attacks over the last six months.
Musharraf told CNN that Pakistan has called for a no-war pact with India and the denuclearization of South Asia. He was asked about the possibility that the current situation could escalate into nuclear war.
"I don't think either side is that irresponsible to go to that limit," Musharraf said. "I would even go to the extent of saying one shouldn't even be discussing these things, because any sane individual cannot even think of going into this unconventional war, whatever the pressures."
Concern about Pakistan using nuclear weapons stems from the fact that Pakistan has a much smaller military than India. India has a policy of not using nuclear weapons first in a conflict.
But concern still mounted about a broader military conflict as neither country offered a diplomatic solution to end their long dispute over the Himalayan region of Kashmir (news - web sites), the spark for two of their three wars. Both countries claim the region in its entirety.
Asked if military officials of the two countries might meet, Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes said: "I don't think there is any such possibility." He made the comment while attending a regional security conference in Singapore.
The recent terror attacks ratcheted up tensions over Kashmir and has led to the deployment of more than 1 million troops along the border.
Cross-border shelling Saturday killed three civilians in India and two in Pakistan, according to official reports.
A grenade attack by suspected Islamic militants also killed a 14-year-old boy and injured 16 people, including two soldiers, in Srinagar, the summer capital of India's Jammu-Kashmir state, while a gunfight between Indian paramilitary forces and guerrillas in Nihalpora, some 22 miles to the north, killed one militant and a teen-age boy caught in the cross fire, Indian officials said.
The United Nations said Saturday its Pakistan and India staffs have been ordered to send their families home in the next few days. The order covers 260 dependents in India and several hundred more in Pakistan.
"This is not a product of any assessment that the situation is getting more dangerous by the minute, but an attempt to deal with the potential situation before it develops," U.N. spokesman Feodor Starcevik said in New Delhi.
The United States and Britain are among the countries that have already advised their citizens to leave India.
"The fact that both of these countries possess nuclear weapons is part of our thinking," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Friday in Washington.
Pakistan and India routinely trade tit-for-tat charges and actions and accuse each other of spying. On Saturday, Pakistan detained an Indian embassy worker for receiving sensitive documents. A day earlier, India detained a Pakistani High Commission employee for allegedly taking classified defense documents from a retired Indian air force official.
India accuses Pakistan of supporting Islamic militant groups who are waging a 12-year insurgency in Indian Kashmir, demanding independence or merger (news - web sites) with Pakistan. The Indian part of Kashmir is the country's only Muslim-majority state. At least 60,000 people have died in all of Kashmir since 1989.
Pakistan says it offers only moral and diplomatic support for the insurgents and does not back terrorist attacks.
Last week, Musharraf claimed cross-border incursions by Pakistan-based Islamic militants had ended.
He told CNN his country is "against militancy" and "will fight militancy in any form" but said Kashmiri separatists are engaged in "a genuine freedom struggle" to force the implementation of a U.N. resolution calling for the right of self-determination.
The Indian army said 21 Kashmiri militants of the Hezb-ul Mujahedeen, or Party of Holy Warriors, surrendered in a growing split between Kashmiri and Pakistani members of the group. The Pakistan-based group's commander in Indian Kashmir, Abdul Majid Dar, was ousted after saying he favored negotiations with India.
Pakistan has moved some troops away from the Afghan border, where they are helping U.S. forces in the campaign to flush out al-Qaida and Taliban militants. Islamabad is considering redeploying the soldiers to the Indian frontier.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&ncid=716&e=1&u=/ap/20020601/ap_o...
Microsoft Settles with SEC - Source
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Securities and Exchange Commission has agreed to settle with Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - News) over allegations the software giant misled investors by understating revenues, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday.
Without admitting any wrongdoing or facing any fine, Microsoft will cease using the accounting practice to smooth out its earnings under the pact approved in an SEC vote taken on Thursday, the source said.
Commissioners Isaac Hunt and Cynthia Glassman backed the settlement. SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt, who represented Microsoft's auditor Deloitte & Touche LLP as a private securities attorney, recused himself.
For more than two years, the SEC had been looking at Microsoft's alleged use of so-called "cookie jar" accounting -- the practice of taking reserves that can be used to pad revenues during lean times.
SEC spokeswoman Christi Harlan declined to comment on the closed meeting. A Microsoft spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.
The SEC has been aggressive recently in probing accounting irregularities involving overstatement of revenues. The Microsoft probe was somewhat unusual because it involved allegations of deliberately understating revenues.
Microsoft shares were down 66 cents to $51.98 in late afternoon on the Nasdaq market.
http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/020531/tech_microsoft_sec_1.html
thrifty, I think that is an interesting chart.
The support line that hoovers around 1393 is pretty much a double bottomed support line. For such a long term chart like this, I think it would be very difficult to break below that level. Unless something like 9/11 happens again, I don't see it falling below that mark. If something like that should happen, I would start to worry.
I also think that lower support line is inaccurate and there are several places where it could be drawn, but you never know. At worst (at this moment), I would watch out for the market to bounce off that bottom support line again. I believe that is the worst case scenario, given that no disaster would occur.
Don't yell at me if you don't like what you see. Just give me an opinion (if you have one) with out the third degree please.
LOL!!
Joemoney
Give me your 2cents on this. Don't yell at me if you don't like what you see. Just give me an opinion (if you have one) with out the third degree please.
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/attachment.php?=&postid=71681
TIA
ALERT - POSSIBLE NASDAQ WEDGE
We would need the price to touch the support one more time however. I would like to see some strong volume when/if the wedge occurs. Perhaps this will be a turn around of the quiet and bearish market. The slow days of summer aren't going to help though.
Good Article: Research bias is incidental
By Thomas Kostigen, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 12:01 AM ET May 28, 2002
LOS ANGELES (CBS.MW) -- The fact that Wall Street is being held accountable for its biased analyst advice is just another example of Joe Sixpack investor putting the blame for his losses on someone else.
When is the average investor going to learn that they are responsible for their own investments? Caveat emptor applies to stocks and bonds too, don't ya know.
After the stock market collapse of 1987, derivatives were to blame. Then, of course, hedge funds came into the picture as "deceptive."
The Internet boom. The tech combustion. Enron accounting. And now it's analyst integrity.
Every loser has a scapegoat.
Here's a thought: before you invest your hard earned money in a company -- look it up yourself.
I've heard that doctor's patients get second opinions. Even, dare I say it, people date before they get married. The idea of research extends to all aspects of our lives. Ignorance is no excuse when it comes to money and investing.
But people are ignorant when it comes to money and investing. In a recent survey conducted by Boston-based insurer John Hancock, almost half of the investors surveyed believed money market funds included stocks.
This in an age when you can't open a newspaper, turn on the television, listen to the radio, or log on to the Internet without being inundated with financial information.
Securities and Exchange Commission's data files and records on every publicly traded company have been available online since 1996. Moreover, almost every search engine or quote server has research and report links tied to ticker symbols.
Last year, the SEC conducted exam sweeps of sell-side analysts' relationships with investment banking departments. This occurred just after media reports began surfacing on accounting irregularities at Enron. Again, this was last year.
Investors are slow to react and protect themselves. Fully 75 percent of those investors surveyed by John Hancock haven't rebalanced their portfolios over the past 12 months.
Yet, investors are quick to place blame.
Michael Milken, Ivan Boesky, Frank Keating, and Kenneth Lay are just a few of the poster boys to whom the investing public has attached fault and waged suit. Merrill Lynch sidestepped the picture show last week when it paid $100 million without admitting or denying guilt for analysts providing misleading research reports.
A finding or admission of guilt surely would have meant flurries of lawsuits, hundreds of millions of dollars in losses, and bankruptcy.
All of this is, of course, after the fact; investors traditional route to rectification.
Stanford University reports that investor lawsuits rose 60 percent in 2001 -- after the downturn in the stock market.
However, ignorance, as any judge will tell you, is no defense. Simply ignoring the fact that there's an inherent conflict of interest in a stock analyst recommending to a stock broker that he or she "buy" shares in a company stock the brokerage firm -- for which they both work -- underwrites, shouldn't excuse investors.
Indeed, brokers themselves didn't always do what their analysts said. In the most recent issue of the stockbrokers' trade magazine, Registered Representative, many brokers said they knew better than to follow their own analysts' advice.
If such conflicts of interest were so apparent to people who had financial incentives to ignore, but chose not to, shouldn't these conflicts have been obvious to the rest of us, as well?
Marc Lackritz, president of the Securities Industry Association, last June testified before Congress on the topic of analyst integrity. He readily admitted that analysts can "shade their conclusions one way or another."
"We in the industry as well as those who regulate us long have been well aware of this," Lackritz stated.
Regulators knew. Industry professionals knew. Every one, it seems, but investors knew that analysts' integrity is to be questioned. Wake up and smell the bear market.
To be sure, supposed white knights are arriving at investors' doors. Charles Schwab is touting in a series of new advertisements it's lack of conflict of interest.
Still, Schwab's rendering of investment advice gets them more trading dollars. Fidelity and others won't be far behind in trying to snatch customers away from Wall Street firms.
The point is that all broker dealers have inherent conflicts. We have to be smart enough not to buy into their game.
Morningstar, Lipper, Thomson Financial, Hoovers, Multex, and scores of other financial data and research firms provide checks and balances to Wall Street analyses.
You don't have to ditch your broker, or your brokerage firm. You just have to know better -- and take responsibility for your own investment decisions.
http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?print=1&guid={0ABA9E4F-9CA2-4E46-AABF-F1793BD70959}&am...
Joe, he was not. That came from Lord Ernie, who has been sending me newsletters for a couple of years. Ironically, he has linked with John Hollen to form the new GECC board at IHub.(much to my dismay). Just today I pretty much told Hollen where to stick it. Christ! he seems to be on every IHub message board with his bad advice and he just won't shut up!
Apparently Lord Ernie subscribes to that website the article refers to. I checked it out and you have to pay to get the information.
Do you know if the people who sent this newsletter were compensated for their work?
Joemoney
Watch for these stocks to bottom and do a VERY nice bounce...
EBTB....currently .19.........bottom around .12
EASY....currently 1.30........bottom around .60
NSCI....currently .19.........bottom around .006
This could take days, or in some cases, a few months, but watch for it......
When they bounce, it's a short play for anywhere from 100% profit and up.
Joe, here's the newsletter that first got me interested...
Be your own judge....
The only glitch....Note the target date for the placement of the CDs for the 5M. This is critical!
GECC To Transform Itself From A TV Programmer
To A Multi-Station TV Broadcaster With Its Final Goal:
A Coast-To-Coast Hispanic TV Network To Serve
The Fastest Growing Body Of TV Watchers in America!
It will all begin when Golf Entertainment, Inc. (OTCBB: GECC) acquires
· Its first 3 TV stations in 2002
· Another 10 TV stations in 2003
· Another 15 TV stations in 2004
GECC will take the first step by raising $5 million in a private placement of 10% convertible debentures. Target Date: May 15.
At this writing, GECC stock is quoted at only 3¢ a share but when the news gets out, look out!
The Grand Plan of GECC features:
· An Initial Competition-Free “Small Market” Approach
· An Immediate Stream Of Revenue To Sustain Growth
· Unique, Quick Low-Cost Transmitter Construction
· Performance Based Employee Compensation
All the details appear in a copyrighted story in the independent online publication, Jack’s Journal (www.jacksjournal.net)
GECC Plans To Create National Hispanic TV Network
Copyright, 2002, Jack’s Journal
May 9 (Jack’s Journal) - Golf Entertainment, Inc. (OTCBB: GECC) plans a bold transformation of itself, from a provider of Hispanic television programming, into a new national Hispanic language TV network, Jack’s Journal learned today.
The company hopes to finance initial steps with a $5 million private placement of 10% convertible debentures.
The grand plan is to initially develop GECC into a small market, multi-station Spanish language TV broadcaster with three stations by the end of 2002 and another 10 stations in 2003, according to a detailed 12-part business plan prepared by GECC management headed by Chairman and CEO Tim Brooker.
The restructuring would immediately boost GECC annual earnings by a factor of 10 from $50,000 last year to $500,000+ in 2002.
A name change for the corporation is anticipated to better reflect the changing nature of the company’s business.
GECC stock languished at 0.03 on 0 volume at mid-week, but the news could change that rapidly.
The expansive plan calls for completion of the Regulation D, Rule 506 private placement by May 15 to accomplish the 2002 goals. GECC will issue common stock as an incentive to debenture purchasers.
Immediately, GECC would acquire a 3-station core with the acquisition of KVAQ-LP, in Springdale, Arkansas, headquarters of GECC, for a final payment of $291,000, plus two Oklahoma stations, KXIV-LP in Oklahoma City for $500,000, and KTZT-LP in Tulsa, for $250,000.
The acquisition targets previously programmed with Hispanic TV Network, which marketed air times at $20 to $40 per 30-second commercial before reverting to Christian, non-profit programming. GECC plans to create an immediate revenue stream by acquiring the properties and marketing the 3-station Springdale-Tulsa-Oklahoma City regional advertising package.
GECC believes it can establish revenue multiples with these properties that will stabilize at book values of $2 million per station after a year of solid operation.
From that 3-station base, GECC plans to obtain FCC licenses build economical pre-fab stations in 10 locations in Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia at an initial expenditure of $200,000.00.
GECC will file license applications for these 10 stations as a minority program provider and ask for expedited application handling. If it encounters delay in any of the target markets, the company plans to immediately seek either to buy or sign a License Management Agreement in that market.
The company believes it can successfully purchase LPTV or Translator licenses in target communities if the original license application is denied or delayed. Programming conversion to Hispanic language programs can start quickly -- within 36-hours of the signing of an agreement with a current licensee. The application and construction projects will take approximately 8 weeks per station.
By spreading the risk across multiple small market areas, management believes the company will be less vulnerable to competition than if it had invested the same amount of capital in one, large, high-volume market such as Los Angeles, Houston or New York.
GECC’s pre-fab, low budget station construction economies are key to its expansion plan. It can completely pre-assemble a transmitter building and UHF broadcast transmitter system in Springdale and assemble the station on site in 4 weeks per site. Tower construction and final installation will take 12 days more.
Constructed of efficient Bally modular transmitter enclosures, each 8-by-11-foot unit will leave the Springdale operations center equipped with a low-cost solid state, easy-to-maintain Itelco 1000 watt UHF transmitter, tuned to the FCC assigned frequency. Serviceable surplus equipment will be sold for cash and the proceeds used to fund the project.
Purchase of 13 such transmitters in one transaction will further markedly reduce our acquisition costs. Solid state efficiency plus the ability to monitor all 13 in a common system for operating problems from an operations center will eliminate the necessity of stationing a dedicated technician at each site, reducing operating costs.
Added construction savings have been achieved by purchasing structurally sound but slightly blemished materials and by relying on used, rather than new equipment items where possible.
Management is operating on the thesis that a "no-frills" approach to initial operations will result in the highest possible potential for success and establishment of the greatest possible value of the company to shareholders.
GECC will integrate and control the total operation by building a Network Operations Center in Springdale, relying on Internet-based fiber inter-station connections to move video data. Raw footage of a commercial from a distant market can be received and edited at the NOC and returned the same day via the Internet.
Satellite expenses of about $70,000 monthly will be avoided. Broadband, carrier class internet connectivity will allow GECC to move NTSC broadcast quality video and CD quality audio directly to the stations for approximately $7,500/month for the whole system.
Executive staff will be compensated at a flat rate of $48,000 per annum. Management believes in compensation tied to performance. No member of management holds stock options, but an employee options plan is being developed. A salary cap of $94,000 per annum will be in effect during any period in which there is private investor capital at risk.
Former CEO and Chairman, Michael Daniels will return to GECC as Senior VP head marketing and to train and deploy a sales force. Daniels successfully led the company in previous years to sales levels in excess of $35 million annually.
Compensation for sales staff will be based solely on performance. Executives will receive 10% of each revenue item. Line level sales staff will receive 20%. The incentive to sell is obvious. Market areas other than Tulsa and Oklahoma City, will each be handled by one full time sales representative.
The system will be operated by a dozen staffers in addition to the commission sales force. Other staff will be needed as the Oklahoma stations are brought online and will peak when GECC begins to develop 15 more markets along the East Coast.
They're going to have it on regular television??
That's a different story then. I didn't research this company a whole lot, but if what you're telling me is what could happen, then they might have something here. I'm going to keep an eye on this one.
Joe, They're not starting new stations. There is one station that they either already own or are about to close on,(without the 5M) and they have two or three others lined up for purchase this year. They gave out descriptions and the purchase price of three stations, all currently operating in the southern farm belt.
To me, this says that the majority of their viewers would be/are migrant farm workers.
They would be much better off if it's not cable or satelite.
You can plug a TV in anywhere with rabbit ears and pick up VHF/UHF stations.........without the added expense.
Again, if they manage to pull off the private CD placement, this could work.......IMO
Do you believe their station will be able to make it on the local cable network? If it's on satellite or some other hard to get/expensive programming, they might not get very many viewers. Cable television is a necessity for a network like that.
It isn't financing as such. They are trying to make a private CD placement for the 5M.
Unconfirmed reports say it's just a matter of crossing the t's and dotting the I's.
FWIW, Spanish language television is already pretty widespread. They just don't have a network.
Here in San Diego we receive three Spanish language stations coming out of Mexico and a "local" station of the Fox Network,(ch 6) is actually a Mexican station as well.
The plan does have merit, if they can pull it off.
Well that's just what we need. Spanish speaking television.
I wouldn't count on the 5M. I hear of lot of situations likes that, but most don't go through. Financing isn't easy to get for some companies.
Joemoney, Now I'm a little confused.
Did you look at GECC at all?
They are dumping any connections with Golf and their next anouoncement may be a name change.
Certainly they will do that soon.
When they get the 5M funds they will purchase three different television stations and convert them to hispanic television.
Their plans are to form the first Hispanic Television Network.
........if they get the 5M........
how is it a steal? I see nothing special about this company. It could be in a free fall.
McDuck, As far as golf goes, I think the current Golf Channel that everyone gets won't be beaten. I watch it often and I think it is very good. It's not likely that a low budget company will steal the show. That's what I said about QBID.
Joemoney
joe, bring them on...ill check them out. look at vlnc at 2.10....a certified steal!!!VLNC
Joe, re: GECC
I saw your post on the new GECC board asking if it was another QBID.,,,,,,,,,Considering that John Hollen is co-manager of that board, I think it's a valid question.....:)
As for Lord Ernie; I've been getting his newsletters for over a year and he usually has some pretty good suggestions.
As for GECC; The answer to your question is.....No, it it not another QBID......unless.
If they have lied about the private placement of some CDs to raise 5M funding, then they've lost my vote.
But, if it happens, and it looks like it will, the stock could take off.
First, they have to get those three stations under their belt.
as usual.....JMHO
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