Archive for April, 2009

• 1918 or 1976…Which Flu Are We Looking At?
  Joshua M Brown, April 28th, 2009 at 6:19 am, Comments: 0

  In an article on Bloomberg this morning, Elizabeth Lopatto gives us a quick rundown of two other flu epidemics from the last century and their vastly different impact. From Bloomberg: Doctors don’t know yet if the swine flu that may have killed at least 149 people in Mexico is more like the 1918 form of [...]

• Market Recap: All Swine Flu, All The Time!
  Joshua M Brown, April 27th, 2009 at 2:47 pm, Comments: 0

  [vodpod id=ExternalVideo.816076&w=425&h=350&fv=]  The Reformed Broker, AKA Daddy Long Legs, here with today's Market Recap... It's Monday, so that can only mean one thing...Yes, that's right!  A new restructuring plan for General Motors (GM)!  Maybe this, the third since January, will stick.  And BTW, they're blowing out the Pontiac brand, which is a shame.  The action today was [...]

• Preparing for the Swine Flu Hysteria
  Joshua M Brown, April 27th, 2009 at 10:49 am, Comments: 0

  I didn't want to weigh in on the hysteria just yet, but here are a few quick things to keep in mind re: Swine Flu... 1. Don't chase stocks that are being perceived as "Swine Flu Plays" as this will almost definitely end in tears.  Here's an example...BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (BCRX), which invariably rallies and then [...]

• "Green Shoots" Are For Pandas
  Joshua M Brown, April 27th, 2009 at 6:28 am, Comments: 0

  Lets put some overused terms out of their misery, a la "Hay is for Horses": "Green Shoots" are for Panda Bears "Bailouts" are for Leaky Boats "Bonuses" are for Arcade Games "Treasury Departments" are for Countries That Actually Have Money "TARPs" are for Major League Baseball Rain Delays "Deflation" is for Pool Floats "Swaps" are [...]

• Bear Market Rallies Are Like Drug Addicts
  Joshua M Brown, April 26th, 2009 at 2:22 pm, Comments: 0

  Below is a post I did for Clusterstock (The Business Insider) last week... I make it a point not to make directional calls on my site or give any specific investment advice. That said, I've seen this movie before and I know how it ends. If the rally continues (BIG IF), the next leg is [...]

• Advisors Doing Less Than 300k Are Not Cutting It at UBS
  Joshua M Brown, April 26th, 2009 at 10:04 am, Comments: 0

  According to an article in Registered Rep last week, advisors producing less than 300k a year are no longer welcome at UBS.  Merrill Lynch also rolled up the welcome mat on producing brokers and advisors below that threshold back in December. Now that the larger, inefficient firms have decided to no longer nurture smaller producers, [...]

• More Hot Links: Girls, Booms and Chrysler
  Joshua M Brown, April 26th, 2009 at 5:48 am, Comments: 0

  More Hot Links for Weekend Reading Ken Belson bring us Things to Remember the Boom By in the New York Times, a thoughtful piece in which the author notices the dozens of empty $2,625 seats at the new Yankee Stadium and remembers other items that epitomized the '03-07 era. That character from Fiat who is [...]

• We Are All Flint, Michigan Now
  Joshua M Brown, April 25th, 2009 at 4:35 pm, Comments: 0

  Below is a post I did for Clusterstock (The Business Insider) this week... Raise your hand if you had to sit through a presentation of the film Roger and Me in high school... Yeah, me too.  Michael Moore's scathing expose of how General Motors and its then chief executive Roger Smith destroyed an auto-assembly-dependent town [...]

• Hot Links: Poor Celebs, Spitzer, Analysts in Love & Holy Trading
  Joshua M Brown, April 25th, 2009 at 8:24 am, Comments: 0

  Hot Links for Weekend Reading Let's kick things off with Stockwire's list of Celebrities who are poorer than you, including Gary Coleman and Kim Basinger. Next up, here's the story of an analyst who fell in love with the CEO of a company she covered and what FINRA decided to do about it...Bill Singer's BrokeAndBroker.com [...]

• TGIF Market Recap: Impossible Rally Continues
  Joshua M Brown, April 24th, 2009 at 1:08 pm, Comments: 0

  The Reformed Broker, AKA Colonel Mustard, here with today's Market Recap... Ford beat their numbers today, the sun was shining here in Manhattan, ummmm I don't know.  I'm trying to come up with reasons for why the Dow was up triple digits all day, but I guess sometimes, there are no answers.  Shortie spent yet [...]