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The New York Times had a long article about the problems in the fiber optics industry. I've bolded some parts.
February 17, 2002
The Fiber Optic Fantasy Slips Away
By SIMON ROMERO and SETH SCHIESEL
Only a few years ago, the dream of striking it rich by transmitting Internet data and telephone calls across continents and under oceans, through endless ribbons of fiber optic cable, captivated one company after another. But rarely in economic history have so many people with so much money got it so wrong.
Instead of a stampede of customers to fill up these fiber optic highways, the industry found itself with too many vacant lanes ? way too many. What had once seemed like a brilliant idea ? carriers' buying and selling future access on those fiber networks to meet expected customer demand ? became a swap meet unto itself, with its own peculiar bookkeeping.
As an element of the telecommunications meltdown that has come to light only recently, the market for fiber network access seems to have been an important common ingredient in the epidemic of accounting fiascos bursting out all over. Certainly, it played a major role in the unraveling of Global Crossing, which filed for bankruptcy protection last month. Fiber swaps hurt other big communications companies, like Qwest Communications International (news/quote) and Cable and Wireless (news/quote). And they played roles in the cascading problems of Enron (news/quote) and Tyco International (news/quote).
Significantly, the Securities and Exchange Commission took a close look at the practices involved in fiber deals a few years ago and apparently did little to contain transactions that later became the basis for a vibrant swapping market. Now, though, the S.E.C. and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are taking a new look, searching for signs of accounting fraud. Investors and former employees of the companies laid low by fiber swaps probably wish the government had stepped in sooner.
The S.E.C. has declined to comment on its previous or current look at Global Crossing. But its silence, together with copies of correspondence between the company and the commission obtained through the Freedom of Information Act by SEC Insight, a private research company in Plymouth, Minn., prompt a flurry of questions.
Among them are these: Did liberal use of such long- term capacity sales encourage the creation of an active swapping market? Did the S.E.C. accept Global Crossing's assertion of its accountants' independence without a fuss? More troubling, and perhaps hardest to answer: How can the telecommunications industry, now plagued by suspicions of sham transactions and accounting, right itself?
"There is no sector that illustrates creative destruction so effectively," said Howard Holme, president of Bandwidth Exchange, a capacity broker in Denver, referring to the theory of the economist Joseph A. Schumpeter that entrepreneurs generate innovation by rendering their predecessors' ideas obsolete.
There are few other industries aside from telecommunications that changed so quickly and produced so much confusion, Mr. Holme said.
Certainly, telecommunications is no stranger to turmoil after a meltdown at upstart carriers and established equipment makers resulted in the loss of more than 500,000 jobs worldwide in the last two years. Communications companies large and small are now in for an unexpected extension of this instability.
Among the most obvious candidates for closer scrutiny is Qwest, which said last week that it had received an S.E.C. subpoena demanding details of its dealings with Global Crossing.
Qwest has been forced out of the short-term debt markets amid growing doubts about the legitimacy of off-balance-sheet transactions involving Global Crossing and other companies. Fortunately for Qwest, which is based in Denver, it can count on a stream of revenue from local phone operations in 14 states.
The stress from the Global Crossing inquiry also extended to Europe, where Cable and Wireless of Britain and KPNQwest (news/quote ) of the Netherlands came under pressure last week as investors questioned their use of swap transactions to show healthy revenue gains when little or no money was actually generated.
Roy L. Olofson, a former vice president for finance at Global Crossing, contends that the company misled investors by engaging in these swaps, in which the outgoing transfer of capacity was counted as revenue while the incoming capacity was considered a capital expense, making it seem as if the company's cash flow kept climbing from such deals.
In some of the deals, Global Crossing and its counterparts issued checks to each other in equal amounts, potentially allowing each to use the proceeds as an increase in revenue, according to Mr. Olofson's lawyer, Brian C. Lysaght. In other transactions, no money may have changed hands.
Qwest and Cable and Wireless are just two companies known to have done swaps of this type with Global Crossing. Other companies include Flag Telecom of Britain, China Netcom and Telecom New Zealand, according to people close to Global Crossing. Many other companies, including Tyco and WorldCom (news/quote ), used the same type of transaction to show growing revenue before the market for such transactions abruptly collapsed about the middle of last year.
The collapse was caused, in effect, by market forces. With the spot price of bandwidth down 90 percent and bound to fall further, it made no economic sense for carriers to make long-term leasing arrangements.
Such complexity was much less common in the telecommunications world just five years ago, when big companies like AT&T (news/quote), British Telecommunications (news/quote) and Deutsche Telekom (news/quote) dominated the business.
Long-distance phone calls were of decent quality but expensive. The Internet was not the big deal it is today. When the industry's titans ran short of capacity on their own systems or on crowded transoceanic cables, they hammered out deals with one another by swapping space on their networks.
This system worked fairly well, partly because it helped the companies avoid the need to raise additional money for the installation of cables across the Atlantic or the Pacific. That changed in 1997 with the creation of Global Crossing. It dreamed of profitably transmitting phone calls and Internet data across a 100,000-mile fiber optic network spanning more than two dozen countries. Companies like Level 3 Communications (news/quote) and 360networks (news/quote) quickly sprang up as rivals.
There was no way the average investor could have known that Global Crossing's business model had come under scrutiny in June 2000, when the company's potential appeared almost as unlimited as that of the Internet itself. But on June 5 of that year, the S.E.C. began to take a close look at Global Crossing's books.
Among the S.E.C.'s concerns were how Global Crossing accounted for capacity swaps and the independence of its auditor, Arthur Andersen. Global Crossing had recently hired as its executive vice president for finance Joseph Perrone, the Arthur Andersen executive in charge of auditing Global Crossing.
In fact, according to people close to Global Crossing, Mr. Perrone was already known at the company as co- author of a two-page memo dated Feb. 10, 1999, before his hiring, in which he recommended how to best account for capacity swaps.
Among Mr. Perrone's suggestions in the memo, these people said, were to keep the contracts 60 days apart, apparently to avoid suspicion that the deals were reached merely to help each party meet its quarterly financial objectives, and to require each party to submit separate cash payments, apparently to create the look of a valid deal.
In its July 20, 2000, response to the S.E.C. query, Global Crossing made it clear that its accounting had been accepted by Arthur Andersen. Global Crossing also said it had based its long-term leases on an arcane interpretation of Statement 66, a rule for recognizing profit or loss from sales of real estate developed by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the group that sets accounting standards for business.
The S.E.C. apparently gave Global Crossing its blessing to proceed with the long-term leases of capacity on its network that eventually were the basis for the swaps the company made with Qwest and several other companies in 2000 and 2001.
Global Crossing continues to deny that it has done anything wrong. And transactions by Global Crossing and others that have been called into question are based on a legitimate, longstanding practice in the telecom industry known as an I.R.U. sale.
I.R.U. stands for the indefeasible right to use a certain amount of bandwidth on a communications company's network. For instance, Company A might own a network that links Seattle and Chicago. Company B has customers in those two cities who want to communicate.
Company A might sell Company B the right to use 622 megabits of capacity on the Seattle-Chicago route for 25 years, meaning that Company B would have the right to transmit 622 million bits of digital information each second on that route. In exchange, Company B might write a check to Company A for $100 million.
Company A must now choose between two methods of accounting for the $100 million, both potentially legal. The more conservative path would be to record the $100 million as income gradually, over the life of the I.R.U. contract. If the contract were for 25 years, the company would record $4 million in revenue each year, or $1 million each quarter. Most well-established telecommunications companies, like AT&T, use the more conservative method.
The more aggressive method would be to record the $100 million as revenue all at once. Under certain circumstances, this method can fall within generally accepted accounting principles. Nonetheless, it is generally shunned. In fact, Qwest appears to be one of the only major companies to use it.
GLOBAL CROSSING essentially tried to have it both ways at once, and even then did not follow its own rules and may have misled investors, according to statements by Mr. Olofson.
In some cases, Global Crossing appeared to use the more conservative method in its formal revenue statements. Global Crossing, however, encouraged investors to focus not on its formal revenue statements but rather on an unofficial measure that it called "cash revenue." Many analysts and investors did just that.
It was in its cash revenue statements that Global Crossing often recorded all of its I.R.U. sales at once, helping the company meet its quarterly financial targets. In the first quarter of 2001, for instance, about one-third of Global Crossing's roughly $1.6 billion in cash revenue appeared to come from the upfront recognition of I.R.U. sales.
A result, according to Mr. Olofson, is that Global Crossing did not even follow its own rules for reporting cash revenue, rules that investors relied upon. Last year, Global Crossing recorded $150 million in cash revenue from a transaction in which it did not actually receive any cash, according to Mr. Olofson.
Among the company's partners in various reciprocal deals, EPIK and Qwest have publicly acknowledged working with Global Crossing. A Cable and Wireless spokesman said, "Certainly we have purchased capacity from Global Crossing, mainly capacity within Europe." He declined to specify the size of the deals. A spokesman for Flag declined to say whether his company had any dealings with Global Crossing. Calls to China Netcom and Telecom New Zealand were not returned.
As far as the other companies' accounting practices are concerned, EPIK has said that it uses the more conservative method, as has Flag. Cable and Wireless reports its results under the accounting standards of both Britain and the United States. Under British standards, the company often records I.R.U. sales all at once. Under American standards, the company says it spreads out those sales over the life of the various contracts. It is unclear how China Netcom and Telecom New Zealand report results.
There will it all end? One clue may lie in the history of the nation's railroads, which are often compared to relatively young fiber optic systems. Some fiber optic operators, like Qwest, even got their start by laying fiber along existing rail lines.
By now it is almost forgotten that railroad companies expanded with ferocity in a post-Civil War boom that resulted in a spectacular financial collapse called the Panic of 1873. Many small investors were burned by the scandalous activities of concerns like Union Pacific Railroad, which, like Global Crossing, stretched the boundaries of corporate behavior in its day.
But eventually, as true believers of the fiber optic age are quick to point out, the glut of unused railway capacity was absorbed.
There's a great deal of interesting (and I think difficult-to-understand) business news lately and I'm going to start using this thread as a place to post some of the more clearly-written articles on things like Enron, global economics, etc. Please feel free to post other articles and comment.
From Bloomberg: A minority opinion from Steven Roach, suggesting that the recession will last longer than most think. This is a good read.
02/01 17:27
Morgan Stanley's Roach Says Recession to Last: Rates of Return
By Heather Bandur
New York, Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Rising consumer confidence, falling unemployment and a pickup in manufacturing have many Wall Street economists saying the U.S. economy is on the verge of pulling out of recession.
Not Stephen Roach.
The chief economist at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. says a recovery is almost a year away because companies aren't investing and consumer spending is ripe for a decline. This, he says, will prompt the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates at least once more after 11 reductions last year.
``It is ludicrous to think that we have built a solid base for economic recovery,'' Roach said. ``Capital spending is at the bottom, exports are dead in the water, and the American consumer is tapped out. Who is going to lead us into a recovery? There isn't a great candidate.''
Roach forecasts the economy will shrink in the second and third quarters, following a return to growth this quarter. He calls it a ``double-dip'' -- contraction followed by signs of growth and then more contraction. He says the rebound in the economy may begin in October.
His pessimism on the economy makes Morgan Stanley one of only two firms of the 24 that trade with the Fed, known as primary dealers, to forecast the central bank will cut rates this year. Roach says the Fed may lower the rate as much as a half-percentage point to 1.25 percent by year-end to bolster demand.
Bonds to Gain?
If the 56-year-old economist is right, bonds may rise.
They have fallen since Jan. 11, driving the yield on the most widely traded two-year note up 35 basis points to 3.08 percent, as investors have anticipated the Fed will start reversing last year's rate reductions. Twenty of the 24 primary dealer economists predict Fed rate increases this year, with some saying the first rise will come in the second quarter.
The Fed left the benchmark overnight rate unchanged at a 40- year low of 1.75 percent Wednesday, the first time central bankers didn't lower the rate at a meeting since December 2000.
Roach says retailers' price discounts will fuel a rise in consumer spending this quarter, sparking growth of as much as 3 percent. That consumption boom will turn into a bust by the second quarter because the unemployment rate remains high at 5.6 percent. He says the economy will shrink as much as 2 percent in the second and third quarters.
``Never before have consumers spent with such a vengeance in the depths of recession,'' Roach said in a research report. ``With jobs and income under pressure, paybacks are the norm in the aftermath of mid-recession consumption spurts.''
Minority Opinion
Roach says this ``double-dip'' has happened in five of the last six recessions dating back to the 1950s, with the economy contracting for several more months just when it seemed it was poised to recover.
Roach's colleagues on Wall Street disagree, saying the rise in factory output indexes and consumer confidence and decline in the jobless rate in January show a recovery is underway. The economy will expand at a 2.3 percent annual pace in the second quarter and a 3.4 percent rate in the third, according to 41 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News, including William Dudley of Goldman Sachs & Co. and Bruce Steinberg at Merrill Lynch & Co.
``I am not here to raise eyebrows; I am here to get it right,'' Roach said.
He got it wrong when he made another call that left him in the minority in 1997. He predicted the Fed would have to raise the overnight rate several times that year to 7 percent to head off faster inflation. The Fed raised its rate target just once -- a quarter-point rise to 5.5 percent -- and held it at that rate for 18 months as the inflation rate fell.
``When you find yourself isolated, you must think carefully about what it is you are saying,'' Roach said.
http://quote.bloomberg.com/fgcgi.cgi?ptitle=Rate%20of%20Retu...
Smooch!
I've just added another link in the iBox:
http://www.thegumpinvestor.com/options/home.asp
This is a good introduction to options in general, as well as to bullish and bearish strategies. It's worth spending some time there to familiarize yourself with all the ways in which options can be traded.
Smooch!
Wow Bernard, thank you so much. I've bookmarked that site and will explore it slowly so I don't get too intimidated by all the technology.
Smooch!
Cool Notebook and Subnotebook...
http://www.dynamism.com/index.shtml
Now that jpd.com has gone, this is the place to check out the newest and coolest... is the price reasonable? that depends on the person LOL.
signed,
Bernard
Sure, Fred, PM it to me and we can talk it over.
Smooch!
Hi TLC,
Sorry about the delay. I went to the gym.
I've noticed that since the change to decimals, the spreads seem to be about the same median width, but probly a bit more fluid than they used to be.
Smooch!
My apologies to all. Needless to say ... (so I won't say it).
Poet, I've been touching up an idea I'd intended to post on your other board for the Bird of Prey and I'm having second thoughts. Not that it's controversial, but that it is lengthy. I'll send it to you privately, some time this weekend, to get your opinion.
BOP, baby, you'll love it.
On options, it's beginning to look like my Gillette puts are toast (since their earnings report), but the General Electric $37.50 puts still have a bit of life. I might have been better served to sell them around noon on Wednesday, but I didn't, which is the essence of what we do.
Fred
Is the spread an eighth (equivalent) for everything like it was before the change from fractions?
right there at 36.40 I want to own some poots
back later, thanks!!!
I like the SEBL Feb 35 puts (SGWNG). Huge OI, just OTM, now trading at 1.10 by 1.25.
I'd say a fantasy buy at the ask ($1.25) is a good entry.
Smooch!
Sounds Good Poet!
Picking up the Puts now and being Ready sounds like the thing to do. It looks like the markets will tank into the close today so it is probably better to be Ahead of the Game.
Good Luck Poet! :^)
Good Luck to All! :^)
PLAN the TRADE and TRADE the PLAN!
SEBL above 36, let's do the deed.
I haven't seen Fred yet today....and I'm bummed!
I hope all is OK with him.
Just to let you know you're not the only member of the "I Don't Always Trade My Plan" Club, I just bought some OEX puts. I'd rather have them in my pocket now. That's my excuse,anyway. -g
Smooch!
Hi Poet!
From what the Plan has been following with the FTSI it looks as though the market will test support, rally into Noon a bit and then sell off hard as profit takers come in and investors put their money on the Sidelines for Sunday. I am not sure if I will do any trading today either, probably just watch. I have found that my trading account is Usually happier when I just watch <GG>.
Have you heard from Fred? I thought that he was always here Flirting with you? <GG>.
The shows on PBS Rule! I only get three TV channels to come in clearly. Luckily PBS comes in the Best <GG>.
Good Luck to All! :^)
PLAN the TRADE and TRADE the PLAN!
Hi Bob,
Oh sheesh, that's all Fred needs! -g
Thank you for the tip on the vegetarian recipes, I'll definitely check them out. And the info on laptops!
I am now kicking myself for not having bought more puts last night, but the reading I'm doing this morning is making me think that after early weakness, we'll see more of a climb, so I'll be spending morning sitting on my hands trying not to trade.
Good luck today, hon.
Smooch!
You can buy My laptop!
LOL! Fred might read more into that than intended <GG>. Wow!
I bet your daughter was Very Happy about the laptop. I still have not made it up to a level of Love where someone gives me those kinds of gifts <GG>. Have you checked out pbs.org and looked up some of the recipes on Regina's Vegitarian Table? They have some Great recipes there. My brothers wife and kids are strictly vegitarian also but he is not. They usually have 6 to 8 different dishes for supper so that Everyone gets what they want. If he wants to eat more than a vegi burger he has to go out to eat though <GG>. I Thoroughly Enjoy going there to eat. I had never realized how good you feel after a Healthy meal <GG>.
I would say to stick with the trades that are working for you. I quit working in November and started doing All kinds of different trades. My account suffered Greatly from me trying something Different rather than sticking with what worked for me. So far the Plan has been working for me so I am going to stick with it for a while, maybe Forever!
I used to have a Compaq laptop, 500 mhz, 6 GB that I was very happy with. I Loved the JBL speakers that the Compaqs use. I thought that I needed something Better and picked up a HP 750mhz last year before I went to the PI. I was Hoping that I could make enough money while on vacation to pay for it <GG>. I rarely traded though as the US premarket opens at 10:30 PM there. By that time I was not interested in trading, mostly sleeping <GG>. The HP has a 15 in screen though and DVD so it was Fun to watch my own movie on the plane when the one they were showing was not any good. If I had waited 6 months I could have picked up one of the new 1 Ghz models with the built in DVD/CDRW combo drive for the same price, Ugh. I have been happy with the HP but miss the JBL sound system of the Compaq. The new Compaqs look nice. If you just want something Light to travel with the Fujitsu laptops are the size of a small book. I know someone who owns one and they Love it. Anyway, I would be willing to part with my HP for 1k so that I can get one of the new ones. If you shop around you can probably find one of the new ones for close to the same price though. I Really like the Apple Ibooks but they are Really pricey. Take a trip down to Fry's Electronics if they have one in your area. They have a good selection of laptops and you can Test Drive them <GG>.
I guess that I had better get back to Work Eh? LOL!
Have a Good Day Poet! :^)
Good Luck to All! :^)
PLAN the TRADE and TRADE the PLAN!
Woo! For a kiss like that, I'll consult on two trades. Just kidding. Sure, TLC. Any time.
Smooch!
Hi Bob,
The dinner went well, thanks for asking. I've got a vegetarian daughter and one who can't eat milk products, so every meal I make is sure to disappoint someone. -g On the other hand, she loved her gift: my IBM Thinkpad. I just don't travel enough to use it, and besides, it's heavy! Do you or anyone else know of a reasonably-priced and light laptop?
About the OEX, I'm watching what you and Bernard are doing pretty closely and it looks promising. At this point, most of my trades are designed as position trades based on volatility changes and other elements of the options themselves (like time decay)as much as general market patterns. Not that I'm successful all the time, but it works OK for me at this point. The heartbreaking thing about the market -- and what makes trading so interesting-- is that just when you think you've got your system and patterns down pat, something always comes along to flummox things.
Smooch!
Will you consult on an options trade possibly today? I'll be back later.
SSMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCH!!
SEBL Puts look Good Poet!
It does look as though SEBL is topping out here. Nice trade on the OEX! I finally took a look and see that the OEX index is the S&P 100. Take a look at what Bernard and I are doing on the MKTSS board as some of the rules can be applied to the OEX also. It looks like the OEX follows the DJX fairly closely so if the rules apply to the DJX they can be used on the OEX also. Or you could just use the rules to follow the DJX and take into consideration that the OEX follows the DJX <GG>.
How did the Birthday dinner go?
Good Luck Poet! :^)
Good Luck to All! :^)
PLAN the TRADE and TRADE the PLAN!
I went long the OEX this morning, bought February 580 calls (OEBBP) at $3.70. The HOD was $4.30 and that's where I've set a day order to sell.
I also bought puts on SEBL: the February 35s (SGWNG) at $1.80 based on news that their competition is beginning to encroach.
Smooch!
Ugh, I'll have to look up the official definition of "fair Value". Basically, it's seen as the 'sea level' marker for the market on a daily basis and is effected by the previous day's close.
Are you aware of my poet's Corner? I love to talk about news, poetry, gossip etc. there and no one's joining me!
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/board.asp?board_id=398
I may be able to come up with some ribald "Nantucket" limericks a wee bit later.
Smooch!
Some one of these days (but not this morning, please, because I don't have time to study it), I'm going to ask you to explain the concept of "fair value".
Fred
So help me, Poet! You bring out the worst in me (darn it, another one of those blasted perspective things ... some might think it the best in me ... it all depends on how you look at it.)
I once heard of a site dedicated to erotic poetry. If you keep it up, I'm going to have to go find it. I'll need a place to pound out all these rhyming images you inspire.
(And, be careful how you handle that one!)
Fred
LOL!
Argh, I'm watching the futures melt back to fair value. Drat.
Smooch!
RE: "Not going to touch that one this morning, hon." Or ... to put it another way ... "Speak for yourself, Fred!"
Fred
I never heard of lips getting tired
Not going to touch that one this morning, hon. -gggg
Smooch!
See that! It came up loud and clear. It just needed the blessing of your individual attention.
Of course, it may not like that "read 'em ten-at-a-time" option. I never heard of lips getting tired, but there's a first time for everything, I guess.
Fred
Oh no! We can't have that.
It's strange, it works for me. Reboot?
Smooch!
Poet, I'm getting a broken link indicator on your smooch. Whassupwidat? I need my early morning fix.
Fred
Here's a surprise: the fourth quarter GDP (expected to be negative)
was positive! The futures have popped and all the overnight longs (like me) will be able to exit positions without having our heads handed to us this morning.
I'll be watching to see how much of a short-covering rally this causes.
Smooch!
Great! That was the question!
You may pose however you like!
I'm about to get to your question on Pirate Trading too.
Smooch!
May I pose an options question?
Hi Fred, Read some of the previous posts there.
If you read some of the previous posts and the iBox (header) you will get an idea of what Bernard and I are trying to accomplish there. It is an interesting premise that we are working on and, so far, it has been profitable. I hope to hear your opinion on the work that we are doing.
TIA, Bob :^)
Bob, I added MKTSS to my list of favorites, but haven't had time to go over there yet.
Thanks,
Fred
Hi Fred, Yes, most penny stocks stay that way.
There can be some exceptions to the rule but not most of the time. They can be fun to play around with to capture some gains at times but most all of them have extreme risks involved. Did you take a look at the MKTSS board. A Very Exciting day there today. http://www.investorshub.com/boards/board.asp?board_id=41
Good Luck Fred! :^)
Well thank you for that. I kept my calls, perhaps foolishly. Now going to scout for wine!
Smooch!
Ugly's in the eye of the beholder.
Rephrased: Ugly's in the eye of the call-holder
Hey! Fred!
Just a little humor
will go a long way
when I'm losing money
My good humor goes away
But that's OK, sweet poet
'Cause Freddy's here to say
Even if you lose money
I'll smooch you, anyway.
(Writ in jest)
(Jest a short time)
Fred
Thanks, Bob.
I'm not into penny stocks (I hold a couple, but they weren't penny stocks when I originally bought them). As "they" say, they are penny stocks for a reason.
Thanks for the list of links.
Fred
Funny how sentiment changes ones trades.
After having some losses on my Puts last week I was anxious to recapture some gains. That was what led me to sell my Puts, when I could lock in those gains. When it was just speculation I was ready to hold my Puts until the end of the month. Once I saw the money in my account though I took it. Especially since it looked like consolidation at that time and the markets had the possibility of moving back up. If anyone has not been reading the MKTSS board then I suggest you take a look. We have been working on the premise that the Dow will mirror the trading pattern of the FTSI. To say the least it has been Very Interesting. Have a look http://www.investorshub.com/boards/board.asp?board_id=41
Good Luck to All! :^)
Hi Poet, It is indeed Ugly!
It looks like Total capitulation here. I sold my Puts Way too early today. I could have made around another 30% here. I am picking up some Feb 98 Calls to try and play a bounce from here. Now I am not so sure that will happen though. Someone must be anticipating a bad reaction to the State of the Union tonight. Their has not been enough bad news to justify the reaction the markets are having.
Good Luck Poet! :^)
check out the one hour bar chart on the COMP.
This is ugly. I'm selling my calls at a slght loss.
Smooch!
LOL! Sorry about that Fred!
TGL is The Golden List and deals primarily with penny stocks. They have a chat site called TGL Live. Here is the link to their iHub board http://www.investorshub.com/boards/board.asp?board_id=94
Most of the action takes place on their Silicon Investor board though http://www.siliconinvestor.com/stocktalk/subject.gsp?subjectid=28706
Here us the link to their Chat room http://www.tgllive.com/
If you are into Penny Stocks at all then you will find it interesting. I am never there as I only have a 56k modem and my computer locks up whenever I go in there. Afterhours there is more like a party, sometimes.
BTW, the Best penny stock website is http://www.otcbbpulse.com/index.html
It is Bernard's website and is Loaded with information. Ask him about it if you are interested.
Looks like the markets are restarting the Fall. It will be interesting to see just how low they will go. Perhaps a double bottom here at 9700?
Good Luck Fred! :^)
Uh, Bob. Er. Ummm. I don't know what "TGL" is. Uhh, could you throw me a life-raft here?
Is that, like, "The Good Life"? Or, perhaps, "Technical Guru Losers"? Or maybe, even, "Thank Goodness for Love"?
I saw the start of the debacle before I went to an early lunch, and cheerfully sold half of by GE Feb 37.50 puts. I left the other half working ... even more cheerfully. Maybe they will work up a sweat. The Gillette puts haven't moved ... and I noticed last night that the techs on it had reversed, turning it into another one of those lessons in humility.
Fred
Thanks Poet! I am not familiar with the OEX but I hope that the trade goes well for you. I am tempted to get into some Calls here but will wait and see what happens. Perhaps there is some speculation that the State of the Union address will not go well? Wow! The Dow just broke back below 9700. I could have added to my gains on the 98 Puts. Perhaps those were Bear flags I was seeing in the chart after all, maybe. It will be interesting to see if the Dow tanks all day like the FTSI.
Good Luck on the OEX trade! :^)
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