Trading Baby!!

Amazon's Amazing Fourth Quarter

The online retailer crushed the Street's expectations by snaring customers and snapping up market share as traditional merchants foundered



Being bullish on Amazon.com proved to be a smart bet in the fourth quarter. Even as traditional retailers founder amid the worst economic malaise since the Depression, the pioneering e-tailer under CEO Jeff Bezos is using competitive pricing and an ever-expanding arsenal of services and products to produce better-than-expected results.


CLICK HERE TO READ ==>

Could Google Fix Detroit?

Detroit Should Get Cracking on its Googlemobile
Carmakers need to let go of their musty business models and start thinking like 21st century companies—like Google

If Google (GOOG) ran a car company, what would it look like? What lessons of Google's singular success in the Internet age might apply to remaking this, among other failing industries?




Would the Googlemobile be the product of stealth and secrecy or openness and collaboration? Could Detroit release cars in beta? Could cars be ad-supported and free? Is there any hope for an industry that traffics in atoms instead of digits? Would a Googley car company even make cars?


CLICK HERE TO READ ==>

Wall Street’s Sick Psychology of Entitlement

The news that Merrill Lynch paid out $15 billion in bonuses is sure to ignite new questions about the wisdom of bailing out Wall Street. Merrill Lynch took $10 billion from the TARP, allegedly to fill holes in its balance sheet. But instead of using that to repair its financial health, it simply put the money into the pockets of its employees. There is no way to defend this disgusting payout.



But that won’t stop Bank of America, which now owns Merrill, from defending the bonuses. And across Wall Street there are lots of people who actually believe that Merrill did the right thing.

How can so many smart people be so dumb?


CLICK HERE TO READ MORE==>

PROBLEMS THAT COULDN'T BE SWEPT UNDER AN $88,000 RUG

In getting bounced from Bank of America, John Thain not only lost his job, he got the rug yanked out from under him - an $87,784 rug, to be exact.



CLICK HERE TO READ MORE==>

FULD HIDES HOME

SHELTERS ASSETS UNDER WIFE'S NAME

Dick Fuld, who piloted Lehman Brothers into Chapter 11 last September, appears to be making moves so he doesn't lose his tony Florida seaside mansion in any civil lawsuits that may be filed against him.




CLICK HERE TO READ MORE==>

BARACK'S BANK BET

OBAMA'S ECONOMIC TEAM EYEING ITS OPTIONS

The heat is on the Obama Administration.



Congressional leaders are pressing the White House to come up with a plan as soon as this week to save the banks and jumpstart the economy.


CLICK HERE TO READ MORE==>

The Apple App Monster

Now that outsiders can get in on the act, loads of companies are developing applications for the iPhone. But can they make real money?



Peer over the shoulder of that person fiddling with an iPhone. Chances are they're doing something other than making a phone call.

They may be playing a game like Tetris or trading stocks through TD Ameritrade (AMTD). They may even be conducting serious business, with a mobile version of Salesforce.com's customer-management software. The possibilities grow by the day: Since Apple (AAPL) began letting outsiders offer software for the iPhone six months ago, more than 10,000 apps have been created.


CLICK HERE TO READ==>

A New Menace to the Economy: 'Zombie' Debtors

Call them "zombie" companies. Many more has-been companies will be feeding off taxpayers, investors, and workers—sapping the lifeblood of healthier rivals





Zombies. Seen one lately? If not, you may soon, because they are about to menace the U.S. economy. In financial lingo, zombies are debtors that have little hope of recovery but manage to avoid being wiped out thanks to support from their lenders or the government.

Zombies suck life out of an economy by consuming tax money, capital, and labor that would be better deployed in growing companies and sectors. Meanwhile, by slashing prices to generate sales, zombie companies can drag healthier rivals into insolvency.

CLICK HERE TO READ==>

America's Best High Schools

A state-by-state look at the best-performing high schools in the U.S. Does your child already go to one?



CLICK HERE TO READ MORE=>

Recession? Not for These Businesses

Shoemakers, trade schools, bankruptcy lawyers… Outfits that cater to the economically beleaguered are doing nicely




Roger Payne, an auto mechanic near San Antonio, took the recession in stride and decided to move his business closer to home. As in, to his backyard. Payne, who quit his old repair job eight months ago to strike out on his own, runs Painless Automotive from his silver tin garage.

The mechanic has no full-time employees, enlisted friends to build a sign, and his wife handles marketing. With Payne's competitive rates, even used-car dealers bring him work.


CLICK HERE TO READ MORE==>

The Stimulus Package: How to play it

The Obama Administration could spend up to $1 trillion resuscitating the economy. State and local governments will benefit, since much of that will go to infrastructure projects.



Localities are also expected to get aid to help close budget defi cits. One play: tax-exempt municipal bonds, which typically yield 75% to 90% of taxable Treasury equivalents. But a flight to safety has munis yielding considerably more.


CLICK HERE TO READ MORE==>

Getting Down to Business

Barack Obama's audacious agenda of stimulus, reform, and regulation will shake up every business and industry.



or President-elect Barack Obama, who steps into the Oval Office as the country faces its most tortured economic climate since the Great Depression, the task of getting down to business started well before his official Jan. 20 inauguration.


CLICK HERE TO READ MORE==>

21 Dumbest Moments in Business 2008

We don't know whether to laugh or cry. Our annual list of the year's most laughable moves proves that, even in moments of crisis, stupidity lives on.

Detroit pleads poverty - in style

Like someone arriving at a food bank in a limousine, the chief executives of the three major U.S. automakers spark outrage when they fly their corporate jets to Washington D.C. to beg Congress for a multi-billion dollar bailout.




CLICK HERE TO READ MORE==>

Keep your job: A 10-point survival guide

If layoffs, restructurings, and a foggy future at work have you rattled, try to take control of the things you can. Here's how

Dear Annie: First of all, I'm glad I still have a job (so far), and I know there are lots of people worse off than I am, so I don't want to whine. Nonetheless, lately I feel I'm losing my grip.




My company just went through a major restructuring (the third in four years), this time with huge layoffs that left the organization chart completely scrambled. So a promotion I was expecting is now probably not going to happen, we're all working harder than ever, and the 16 people under me are asking me for answers I don't have. It's hard to concentrate on getting everything done when there's so much uncertainty around. Any suggestions on how to stay focused? -Hanging On by a Thread


CLICK HERE TO READ MORE==>

Neff goes bargain hunting

In a battered market, the former Windsor fund manager is finding stocks that meet his strict value standards.



John Neff feels your pain. The legendary money manager, 77, beat the S&P 500 by an average of more than three percentage points a year during his 31-year run at Vanguard's Windsor fund. He has been investing his own money since retiring in 1995. Ever a contrarian, he has continued to thrive by going against the crowd - such as shorting Nasdaq 100 futures during the tech bubble to pick up 40% returns after the bust.

But even Neff couldn't find safe havens in last year's tumultuous market.


CLICK HERE TO READ MORE==>

How volatility breeds opportunity

Raymond James' chief strategist, Jeffrey Saut, says that for the first time in a decade, stocks are cheap. Don't miss out.
You'll have to forgive Jeffrey Saut if he savors 2008 a little longer than the rest of us.



For in a year during which the S&P 500 fell a stunning 38.5%, venerable investment banks crumbled, and 401(k) plans from Tacoma to Tampa were vaporized, the chief strategist at Raymond James was one of those few market gurus with a legitimate claim on the four sweetest words in the Wall Street vocabulary: "I told you so."


CLICK HERE TO READ MORE==>

Sending WallStreet to jail

Wall Street: It's payback time
An angry mob of investors and taxpayers is assembling, and they want to see some executives' heads on pikes. The question for the courts will be, Who was just foolish with our money - and who was lying, cheating, and stealing?

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE==>

Careful what you search for

Internet search engines know a lot about their users - maybe too much. Do we really care?

Google & Co. gather a lot of information about you as you surf, including the date and time for your search, your search terms, and your IP address, which is an 11-digit number that identifies your computer and, more important as far as advertisers are concerned, your location.





CLICK HERE TO READ MORE==>

Playing the blame game

Chances are you can't succinctly express your views on that complex question. But the American public will settle on one of four catch phrases over the next several months. Whatever bit of conventional wisdom wins out will have an impact on the economy.





CLICK HERE TO READ MORE==>

Funny cartoon

Funny

Attack of the Trading Robot

The folks at Trade-Ideas have recently released an onslaught of videos showing their trading robot (jointly developed by stocktickr.com) in action, and it's sparked some interest in automated trading.






The videos are great, and they do a good job of showing what is possible with the use of a trading robot. Dave Mabe of stocktickr.com has also been writing recently on automated trading and has some great posts on his blog.


CLICK HERE TO READ MORE==>

Google Tech Talk on History of Automated Trading

A very good talk by David Leinweber who has been involved with automated trading and the markets for a long time. It’s about an hour long and the first 40 minutes or so are excellent.




CLICK HERE TO READ==>

THE OPIATES OF THE MIDDLE CLASSES

By Nassim Taleb




We humans are naturally gullible — disbelieving requires an extraordinary expenditure of energy. It is a limited resource. I suggest ranking the skepticism by its consequences on our lives. True, the dangers of organized religion used to be there — but they have been gradually replaced with considerably ruthless and unintrospective social-science ideology.


CLICK HERE TO READ MORE==>

The Great American Ponzi Scheme: Part I

Mortgage banking for the last ten years or so has been the biggest Ponzi scheme ever conceived and it has all been legal. Builders, developers, and bankers have been perpetrating what amounts to outright fraud on the American consumer. Don't get me wrong, it is the greed of those consumers that got them into trouble in the first place. If people hadn't looked at buying property as a get rich scheme, and bank-rolled that "investment" with money they didn't have and credit they couldn't afford, none of this would have happened either.



CLICK HERE TO READ MORE==>

The Worst Predictions About 2008

Just about everybody got wrong-footed by 2008, but some people's mistakes were truly spectacular



CLICK HERE TO READ MORE==>

The Bag Lady Papers

Alexandra Penney—a New York artist and former editor of Self Magazine—lost her life savings in the Madoff debacle. Now she shares her wrenching trauma in a Daily Beast exclusive.



Last Thursday at around 5 p.m., I had just checked on a rising cheese soufflé in my oven when my best friend called.

"Heard Madoff's been arrested,” she said. “I hope it's a rumor. Doesn't he handle most of your money?”

Indeed, he did. More than a decade ago, when I was in my late 40s, I handed over my life savings to Madoff’s firm. It was money I’d been tucking away since I was 16 years old, when I began working summers in Lord & Taylor, earning about $65 a week. Not a penny was inherited.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE==>

Madoff money chase offers long road and little reward

Everyone caught up in the scandal of accused Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff wants to know where the money is.

Madoff, who authorities say confessed to losing $50 billion in "a giant Ponzi scheme," has given a list of his assets, liabilities and property to U.S. regulators.




But the thousands duped, from the beach cities of Florida to yacht clubs of the Mediterranean to Hollywood and Manhattan, may never see it. And judging by the scandals involving Bayou Group hedge fund, WorldCom and Adelphia Communications, any money they may see down the road will likely be a fraction of what they invested.

"We have received many calls from people and everyone is saying 'where did the money go?' because he obviously didn't use it all," said Craig Stein, an attorney in Boca Raton, Florida.



CLICK HERE TO READ MORE==>

Numa Numa Cat

What Happened to the American Dream?

The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.

It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it.

It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position."

--Historian and writer James Truslow Adams in his 1931 book Epic of America.

Mr. Adams penned these words in the midst of the Great Depression, the worst economic crisis in our history. It is timely to reflect on these words, as it appears that the American Dream is slipping further out of reach for most Americans. If the dream of a better life for our future generations is lost, it will truly mark a turning point for our great Republic.


CLICK HERE TO READ MORE==>

NEW DREAMTAI Version 5.02.12 RELEASED!!

NEW DREAMTAI VERSION 5.02.12

Hello DreamTai users,

I am very pleased and excited to announce
the release of the latest version of DreamTai
DreamTai version 5.02.12

Please note that this version is beta version.
So, you may find bugs in it.
If you find any bugs, please contact me.

I will make the fixes for the final release.

This version has many cool features like:
1. Zooming of charts
2. Displaying Trend Changes by Arrows
3. Changes in the Reports with automatic
strategy recommendations.


If you have never used DreamTai, you can purchase it from our website at http://www.dreamtai.com




Here is how to get the new version for existing users:

Start your existing version of DreamTai and click on LOAD button to load stocks. It will download stock prices over the internet.
Also, it will pop up a new message showing the link to download the new version.


Please download it and install it.
Do send me feedback on how you like it.

Thanks,
Sanjoy

How the stock market works!

Hi,

May you have a PRO$PEROU$ NEW YEAR!!

Enjoy the funny picture attached.

EnJOY,
SanJOY:-)