Thread: Thunderhorse's Account Talk

http://www.forbes.com/business/2008/...224salter.html

Commentary
Just Say No To A Car Czar
Malcolm S. Salter, 12.24.08, 12:01 AM EST

"According to the White House plan to aid General Motors and Chrysler with money drawn from the $700 billion fund voted by Congress, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will temporarily oversee loans to the two ailing auto giants.
After Jan. 20, President-elect Obama will need to choose his own more permanent overseer. This person, identified as "the president's designee" in the failed Auto Industry Financing and Restructuring Act, is now widely referred to as the "car czar."
The imagery and reality of a car czar is fraught with problems. First of all, under what authority will this person be able to orchestrate sacrifices required by the carmakers, United Auto Workers, bond holders, and suppliers to make the loan recipients economically viable and competitive by March 31? It is by no means clear what power, apart from personal suasion, such a person would have to resolve disputes and align interests among key stakeholders during
the coming months."

Ummm...maybe the judiciary instead?

http://www.mieb.uscourts.gov/notices/ao08-24.pdf

T'horse.

Originally Posted by Thunderhorse

Been sitting on the porch watching events pretty much since COB election day. DCA buying C shares with biweekly contributions.

Currently 97G/3C.

Hi T'horse -

Do you have any other plan for getting your G fund stash invested in stocks again? What are you watching - Something related to technical analysis, fundamentals, capitulation, etc.?

There's no wrong answer... Just making conversation.

Hi Thunderhorse,
The auto industry bail-out is frought with problems; mainly the UAW, who does not seem to want to make any concessions and would rather drive the whole industry into the ground rather than budge an inch. The government seems to be getting into a lot of investments lately that are uncharacteristic...so my question is, why didn't Congress just outright purchase the surplus of vehicles and then find a means of selling them? Politicians are all a bunch of used car salesmen anyway...

I try to follow technical analysis but I've got a lot to learn in that area. Economic fundamentals leave lot to be desired. The housing, retail, and auto sectors are all in a funk. Unemployment is on the rise. Although there seems to be some life signs in the mortgage market (lower rates) credit remains tight. No, I'm not an eternal pessimist. The bull will return but it won't happen quickly.
The VIX continues it's slow downtrend toward 40. December so far has been trading sideways in a range. Short term if the SP 500 breaks down below the 850 area I'll break out some of the stash. Personal feeling is that at some point we will retest the November lows. Watching and waiting. Buy lower, sell higher.

Hey Moonshadow - good question there mate!

Happy "Boxing Day" everyone,
T'horse

A few things to keep in mind for January:

http://www.briefing.com/Investor/Pub...arsLanding.htm

Jan 5th - December vehicle sales. Numbers will likely stink again. Will bad sales numbers be muted by recent auto bailout developments? I also wonder if there may be an uptick in sales due to Christmas buying by folks with $$ to spare.

Jan 6th - Initial Unemployment claims will likely be ugly again.
...

January 14th - Retail sales reports for December are due out before market open.
...

Mid January looks like we start into earnings season again. More fun and games.
...

The BIG question is how much of the above is already baked in?

Lets see where the big boys want to go next week. Will they pile in, or will profit taking again show in force?

Will the Obama "hope" effect provide positive influence for January? I think it will.

I'm still playing bear market. 97G / 3C.

Wall Street braces for 2009's first full week

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090104/ap_on_bi_ge/wall_street_week_ahead

I'm looking for a pullback buy in opportunity.

I toyed with a move to C/S this morning. In the end left it alone thinking there may be better opportunities in the week ahead.

ALCOA reports after the close Monday, 12th. How many jobs did they announce they were cutting a few days ago? AL alloy product demand is down.

Oh, and that other bit coming along next week - RETAIL SALES for December.

Did I see a real bogeyman, or was it my imagination?

Patience. Still 97G/3C.

Real bogeyman it was. My target buy in zone was met so I'm off the porch and hunting.

Looking for a short term hit and run as the fundamentals are still crap.

Interesting how the indexes basically went sideways in a fairly tight trading band after about 10AM this morning. Is this telling us something?

Network/server was near kaput just before noon today. TSP site and autotracker logged fine just before that though.

100% C COB today.

Best wishes everyone.

On Deck:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Busine...-14088207.html

SATURDAY, Jan. 17
BERLIN -- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin winds up his two-day visit to Germany amid the crisis over a cutoff of Russian gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine.

Israel may halt Gaza war

http://www.reuters.com/article/world...5053R720090116

MONDAY, Jan. 19
WASHINGTON -- Treasury closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
DETROIT -- The 2009 Automotive News World Congress gets under way. Through Jan. 22.

TUESDAY, Jan. 20
WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama inauguration.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Bank of America Corp. releases fourth-quarter financial results.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- CSX Corp. releases fourth-quarter financial results.
ARMONK, N.Y. -- International Business Machines Corp. releases fourth-quarter financial results.
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. -- Johnson & Johnson releases fourth-quarter financial results.
DAVENPORT, Iowa -- Lee Enterprises Inc. releases first-quarter financial results.
OMAHA, Neb. -- TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. releases first-quarter financial results.

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 21
WASHINGTON -- Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on the financial crisis; Senate Finance Committee hearing on the nomination of Timothy Geithner to be treasury secretary.
NORTH CHICAGO, Ill. -- Abbott Laboratories releases fourth-quarter financial results.
FORT WORTH, Texas -- AMR Corp. releases fourth-quarter financial results.
CUPERTINO, Calif. -- Apple Inc. releases first-quarter financial results.
FORT WORTH, Texas -- Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. releases fourth-quarter financial results.
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- eBay Inc. releases fourth-quarter financial results.
MINNEAPOLIS -- U.S. Bancorp releases fourth-quarter financial results.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. -- UAL Corp. releases fourth-quarter financial results.
HARTFORD, Conn. -- United Technologies Corp. releases fourth-quarter financial results.

THURSDAY, Jan. 22
WASHINGTON -- Commerce Department releases housing starts for December, 8:30 a.m.; Labor Department releases weekly jobless claims, 8:30 a.m.; Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, releases weekly mortgage rates.
SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- Advanced Micro Devices Inc. releases fourth-quarter financial results.
NEW YORK -- Bank of New York Mellon Corp. releases fourth-quarter financial results.
DEERFIELD, Ill. -- Baxter International Inc. releases fourth-quarter financial results.
MCLEAN, Va. -- Capital One Financial Corp. releases fourth-quarter financial results.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- Google Inc. releases fourth-quarter financial results.
BETHESDA, Md. -- Lockheed Martin Corp. releases fourth-quarter financial results.
REDMOND, Wash. -- Microsoft Corp. releases second-quarter financial results.
DALLAS -- Southwest Airlines Co. releases fourth-quarter financial results.
OMAHA, Neb. -- Union Pacific Corp. releases fourth-quarter financial results.
MINNETONKA, Minn. -- UnitedHealth Group Inc. releases fourth-quarter financial results.

FRIDAY, Jan. 23
FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- General Electric Co. releases fourth-quarter financial results.
MILWAUKEE -- Harley-Davidson Inc. releases fourth-quarter financial results.
NEW YORK -- Schlumberger Ltd. releases fourth-quarter financial results.
STAMFORD, Conn. -- Xerox Corp. releases fourth-quarter financial results.

A video I like originally posted in Show Me's place courtesy Hessian:

http://www.wimp.com/thegovernment/

USA = Constitutional Republic.

Not pure democracy. Yes there are democratic elements but thats it.

Some of the things I hear and read almost daily makes me wonder if Civics is still taught in school.

I'm holding for now in no mood to sell out cheap.

Today may have been day 1 of a 18 - 24 November repeat. We'll see.

Time for the new Pres and team to start walking the walk.