• Don’t They Know It’s Just a Bear Market Rally
    Posted by on May 27th, 2009 at 11:05 am

    Wisconsin fifth-graders kick the stock market’s ass:

    If your stock portfolio isn’t performing as well as you’d like, maybe you could hand it over to these fifth-graders. Four students at Tullar Elementary School in Neenah won the recent Wisconsin Stock Market Game, turning $100,000 of hypothetical money into more than $203,000 in 10 weeks.
    The winning team of Annie Czech, Bailey Morton, Jen Sagehorn and Sam Weiler invested exclusively in 15 financial stocks, of which 13 proved profitable.
    “It felt amazing,” Bailey said. “It felt like I was getting a quick sugar rush.”
    “I was really excited,” Annie said. “I wanted to scream.”
    Tim Hopfensperger, a teacher at the school and adviser to the young investors, also had teams finish second and fourth in the competition, which is sponsored by the nonprofit EconomicsWisconsin.
    “I am really pleased,” Hopfensperger said. “I am waiting to see what they will do in the future. A number of them will get involved in the financial industry.”

    I’m glad the gains were hypothetical. A real sugar rush is probably banned from school.

  • Behind the Scenes at CNBC
    Posted by on May 27th, 2009 at 10:20 am

    Hear Dennis Kneale say that stories need “conflict, drama and struggle” to fool people into learning good information.

  • How Many Gallons of Gas Does the S&P 500 Buy
    Posted by on May 27th, 2009 at 9:36 am

    Cool “Chart of the Day” from Clusterstock:
    clusterchart052709-gas-to-s%26p.gif

  • AutoZone Beat Expectations But Not By Enough So Shares to Fall
    Posted by on May 27th, 2009 at 9:21 am

    This is getting a little post-modern for me. Shares of AutoZone (AZO) just reported blow-out earnings. The company earned $3.13 a share, 24 cents more than expectations. Obviously, consumers would rather fix up a car now rather than get a new one. Plus, the dealerships aren’t in the best of shape right now.
    But here’s the weird part: The shares are trading lower in the pre-market. Why? Reuters writes:

    Shares of the largest U.S. auto parts retailer fell 2.2 percent in premarket trading on Wednesday, with analysts noting that investors expected more from the company after a string of solid profit reports.

    So they beat expectations but not by enough. Um…then what was the expectation?

  • AP: Roubini recommends Chinese model for North Korea
    Posted by on May 27th, 2009 at 9:09 am

    The AP reports:

    Impoverished North Korea can liberalize its economy while maintaining its political system if it follows the path taken by China and Vietnam, prominent economist Nouriel Roubini said Wednesday.
    “I think the lesson is that progressive economic opening and liberalization even in a formerly centrally-controlled economy can lead to beneficial changes,” Roubini told reporters on the sidelines of a technology forum.

    The headline reads “Roubini recommends Chinese model for North Korea” when I think he means that it’s one possibility. The AP makes it sound like Roubini supports the Chinese model.
    To Kim Jong Il, I think the words “Chinese model” mean something very different.

  • The 20 Best-Performing Stocks of the Last Decade
    Posted by on May 27th, 2009 at 8:22 am

    From Business Week:
    Southwestern Energy (SWN)……………….3,662%
    Celgene (CELG)…………………………………..2,607%
    XTO Energy (XTO)……………………………….2,088%
    Stericycle (SRCL)………………………………..1,503%
    Gilead Sciences (GILD)………………………..1,491%
    Denbury Resources (DNR)……………………1,271%
    FLIR Systems (FLIR)……………………………1,190%
    Ventas (VTR)……………………………………….1,127%
    Range Resources (RRC)……………………….1,124%
    Lab Corp of America (LH)…………………….1,107%
    Quest Diagnostics (DGX)………………………..835%
    Chesapeake Energy (CHK)……………………..813%
    C.H. Robinson (CHRW)……………………………692%
    Varian Medical Systems (VAR)………………..677%
    Occidental Petroleum (OXY)…………………..634%
    EOG Resources (EOG)……………………………599%
    Express Scripts (ESRX)…………………………..595%
    EQT Corp (EQT)…………………………………….540%
    Apache Corp (APA)………………………………..486%
    CONSOL Energy (CNX)………………………….486%
    (Note: BW restricted the list to S&P 500 members with betas less than 1.)

  • Rand Disappearing from Circulation in Harare
    Posted by on May 26th, 2009 at 10:48 pm

    Megabe may be a dictator but there’s one law he can’t change–Gresham’s:

    The South African rand is disappearing from circulation especially in Harare, as it continues to gain value over the American dollar.
    The rand however, remains the reference currency and is widely used in Midlands and Matabeleland.
    Traders in the market now prefer to sell their good in rand as compared to the US dollar.
    The parallel market is trading at a cross rate of US$1 at an equivalent of R9 with some trading as low as R8, 50 for a dollar.

  • If you’ve ever wondered if shooting off fireworks under a frozen lake is cool, it turns out that it totally is.
    Posted by on May 26th, 2009 at 6:00 pm

  • Figures on government spending and debt
    Posted by on May 26th, 2009 at 4:44 pm

    From AP:

    Total public debt subject to limit May 22…….11,241,715
    Statutory debt limit…………………………………12,104,000
    Total public debt outstanding May 22………..11,301,676
    Operating balance May 22……………………………229,391
    Interest fiscal year 2009 thru April………………..193,439
    Interest same period 2008…………………………..243,904
    Deficit fiscal year 2009 thru April……………………802,294
    Deficit same period 2008……………………………..153,471
    Receipts fiscal year 2009 thru April……………..1,256,066
    Receipts same period 2008 ……………………….1,549,720
    Outlays fiscal year 2009 thru April……………….2,058,360
    Outlays same period 2008…………………………1,703,191
    Gold assets in April………………………………………..11,041

    I’m assuming these are in millions of dollars.

  • Apparently, Everyone Saw It Coming
    Posted by on May 26th, 2009 at 2:48 pm

    Google results for “predicted the recession.”