InvestorGeeks

My Rant On Analysts and Capitulation!

by Christian

I have two points in this blog entry; analysts that annoy me, and fund managers have capitulated.

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CNBC America Good For You!

by Christian

It looks like CNBC America is playing with their cast of hosts and giving fresh blood some air time! Good for you CNBC America! Good for you for trying! You make me want to watch CNBC America again!

Jason Asks What He is Missing With Garmin?

by Christian

In a blog posting Jason asks what he is missing regarding Garmin. My answer is that he is missing nothing! This is one those stocks where I was burnt because I jumped in too earlier (still long and will wait this storm out). BUT my basic premise of GPS which I have commented on many times stays.

So why is Garmin down? Because they missed by a bit! The real problem with Garmin is their short interest. Garmin has been on the RegSHO list for 60 days and is naked shorted to the hilt! (Hey SEC you are doing fine, but wake up and start handing out fines!) Garmin has 10 days of volume in short interest. It is absolutely insane!

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CNBC America Change…

by Christian

Today CNBC America put Rick Santelli, Steve Liesman, and a few other floor commentators into the prime seat of Squawk Box… All I can say is wow! Cool! Now CNBC America has real intelligent discussion on Squawkbox…. Yeah I am one of those people who was sad to see Mark Haines leave Squawkbox.

Folks if you think CNBC America should keep this or make changes send comments to Squawkbox at cnbc.com. CNBC does listen to emails and to their audience. I know because I am a platinum member of their feedback pool. They regularly send me polls and questionnaires to fill out.

Apple, Oh The Hypocrisy!

by Christian

Ah yes, when Apple does something sinister its ok because Apple wants to "control" the experience, and well Apple is the "good guy".

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has confirmed that the iPhone 3G has a kill switch that can remotely remove software from the devices.

Jobs told The Wall Street Journal that Apple needs the capability in case it inadvertently allows a malicious program — such as an application that steals user’s personal data — to be distributed to iPhones through its App Store.

"Hopefully we never have to pull that lever, but we would be irresponsible not to have a lever like that to pull," Jobs said.

Ok, let’s rephrase this shall we…

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has confirmed that the Mobile Phone has a kill switch that can remotely remove software from the devices.

Ballmer told The Wall Street Journal that Microsoft needs the capability in case it inadvertently allows a malicious program — such as an application that steals user’s personal data — to be distributed to Mobile Phones through its App Store.

"Hopefully we never have to pull that lever, but we would be irresponsible not to have a lever like that to pull," Ballmer said.

So how do you feel about this? Steve is a control freak, and he has already used a form of this control.

But even if Apple had a good reason for removing the application, developers are concerned by the lack of communication from Apple about how and why certain applications are allowed or denied access to the App Store and why some are removed.

When the App Store was first announced earlier this year, company CEO Steve Jobs said there would be limitations on what applications could be sold. Specifically, he stated that porn would not be allowed.

First, why the control Steve? Secondly, why the dislike of porn? Not that I am excited and eager to download porn. Are you going to do the same with applications that promote violence? How about programs that relate to peoples habits or lifestyles that are not popular among certain crowds? Are you going to control that? I am tempted to believe that you will. This is yet another reason why I am bearish on Apple. So how could Apple have handled this better? Create an opt-in or opt-out program of these draconian measures.

Refreshing My S&P Prediction

by Christian

Folks, my prediction on the S&P went beyond my wildest dreams, and basically was spot on. Though the question is was I lucky or not?

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Where is the Panic Selling? Answer: It Ain’t Gonna Happen!

by Christian

Everybody wants a panic sale, they want a capitulation. Well folks I am willing to wager that it will not happen. And I think darkpools have something to do with this. Consider the following and the original.

Dark pools are on a hot streak. They’re tearing through volume records and turning into big-league market centers in their own right.

Goldman Sach’s Sigma X dark pool yesterday executed 406 million shares, making it the seventh-largest market center for U.S. equities. That put Sigma X in line behind Nasdaq, NYSE Arca, the New York Stock Exchange, BATS Trading, Direct Edge ECN and the National Stock Exchange. And ahead of all other venues.

Sigma X’s volume is up 100 percent over the last seven weeks, according to Rishi Nangalia, head of product development at Goldman Sachs Electronic Trading. "It’s a virtuous circle," he said. "We have more volume passing through from more clients and their algos, and as a result of higher fill rates, we get more flow, which in turn further increases the match rates." This surge is taking place against a backdrop of higher equity market volume overall and greater volatility.

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Analysts and The Power of Nightmares (or Rose Colour Glasses)

by Christian

I have become completely skeptical of analysts. I am even at the point thinking, what their motives are. Here is an interesting example:

An immature chipset solution from Infineon Technologies AG may be at the root of reported connection problems with Apple, Inc.’s 3G iPhone, Nomura analyst Richard Windsor said in a note to clients Tuesday. He said some iPhone users are having trouble getting a 3G connection and hanging on to it.

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Reading Between The Lines At UBS

by Christian

So I was reading the losses, writedowns and what have you at UBS. Yes yes it is all doom, gloom and boom…  However, something did catch my eye.

Last week, it agreed to buy back almost $19 billion of bonds after New York State and others sued it for steering clients towards auction-rate securities — debt which became impossible to sell after the market froze. UBS said this would cost it $900 million.

This is very interesting. UBS is buying 19 billion dollars of debt, and the cost of doing this is 900 million? That’s 5% of the grand total, and my thought is if this is the loss on the bonds. If I am not mistaken these bonds are the problem bonds, and if UBS takes them on they take on the problems. If UBS believes that the net change in value is 5% then it tells me if the entire credit crisis is not a bit overblown? And I wonder if the real problem is not shaky credit, but the fact that the financial community took on too much leverage.

Nonetheless it seems to me that we really have turned the corner. Those that have problems are exposed and those that are ok are, well, ok.

Pop Quiz: Who’s Older…

by Christian

Candidate #1: Ralph Nader…

Or candidate #2: John McCain

Who do you think is older? McCain? Nader?

Answer…

Nader!

Ralph Nader is 2 years older than McCain. Frankly I was surprised by this one as I thought McCain was the oldest of the group. I thought Nader was maybe 60, but he is 74 years old.