What's a $34 billion loss on Wall Street? For some, a ticket to a new job

Under the stewardship of Dow Kim and Thomas Maheras, Merrill Lynch and Citigroup built positions in subprime-related securities that led to $34 billion in write-downs last year. The debacle cost chief executives their jobs and brought two of the world's premier financial institutions to their knees.

In any other industry, Kim and Maheras would be pariahs. But in the looking-glass world of Wall Street, they — and others like them — are hot properties. The two executives are well on their way to reviving their careers.

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1-31-08 Vice Stocks

How will Julie and her friends make it through the recession? Sex, guns, booze, and gambling.

Stocks rally on rate cut hopes

Jan 28 - US stocks rallied more than one percent, despite a sell-off in Europe and Asia, as a weak housing report lifted hopes the Federal Reserve will cut rates on Wednesday.

1-29-08 Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd. (SNDA)

Never heard of Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd. (SNDA)? What are you, a newb?

Rick Santelli Takes Down "MarketGuru" Jim Cramer :-)

Maybe, just maybe, the single coolest thing I've ever seen on CNBC. Rick Santelli heard just about enough of Jim's lies today (Tuesday, January 22, 2008). So, he called ol' Jimbo out. What a glorious moment!
The first time a CNBC-ite challenged their King. (No disrepect to you, Mr. Santelli, but Jim Cramer was crowned, King Shill the First in 2005.)
The really neat thing is this: Although Jim got all huffy and tough sounding, and said how "bearish" he had been (you'll see what I mean), I added some cute video clips that show that Rick Santelli was right: Jim was pounding people into stocks all last year. And, I do mean ALL. Enjoy!

Video from "donharrold"

Setups for Selling Stocks Short

When I short stocks, I look for longer term trends, not short term swing trades (rarely ever day trades). The shorts I want look like the charts in this post (they take months or even years to complete).
I want the high flyers that will be crushed over the next several months. Just as I like riding trends higher, I like riding trends lower over the intermediate to long term (4-12 months).
I am trend trader at heart and it is what I do best.

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Grantham Says Shun Stocks, Shift to Cash Amid Crisis

Jan. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Jeremy Grantham, the money manager who oversees $157 billion as chairman of Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo & Co. LLC, said investors should shun stocks and hold cash during the worst financial crisis in more than 60 years.

``Don't be a hero,'' Grantham, 69, said today in an interview from his office in Boston. ``Move to cash and let the other guys fish around for the bargains in the wreckage.'

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A bad market? You ain't seen nothin'

A worldwide decline may be harsher, longer and deeper than expected. Here's why financials may soon be in even more trouble


In reality, however, the skirmishes we've seen so far might be little more than a prelude to a deeper, harsher, longer decline than most yet perceive possible. And in a very postmodern twist, it is beginning to look like unexpected consequences of an investment instrument designed to mitigate risk could turn out to be the nuclear option that bombs the globe into the financial equivalent of World War III.

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Another Destroyed Trading Account :-((

One word- Lack of Risk Control !!

Total Net -$62,146.88

Net -$45,794.88 Swing
Net -$16,352.00 Long term

I sold all my swings today, they just kept getting worse. I also cleared out my long term account, I think I will close that account. Knowing my luck, I am pretty sure I marked the exact bottom. I am 100% flat now and learned my lesson.

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Rogue trader to cost SocGen $7bn

French bank Societe Generale says it has uncovered "massive" fraud by a Paris-based trader which resulted in a loss of 4.9bn euros ($7.1bn; £3.7bn).

The bank said the fraud was based on simple transactions, but concealed by "sophisticated and varied techniques".

While Societe Generale has yet to name the trader, media reports say he is 31-year-old Frenchman Jerome Kerviel.


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