[Posted at 7:15 AM]
“…the potential for weakness in global economic conditions
suggest substantial risks that demand and production could
remain soft. In these circumstances, when the economic situation
could be evolving rapidly, the Federal Reserve will need to
monitor developments closely.”
–Statement from the Fed”s March 20 meeting accompanying its
half point cut in short-term interest rates.
Maybe, just maybe, Alan Greenspan and Company finally get it.
Yes, they only moved 50 basis points, and, as noted last week, the
markets collapsed worldwide (except for Tokyo) afterwards. But
at least they seem to be taking note of the fact that whether we
like it or not, the world looks to us for leadership.
I got a kick out of some comments in the aftermath of the Fed”s
action, including from people I have tremendous respect for, who
said in essence, “The Fed can”t do everything so why blame
them? Our recent problems were not of their making.”
Believe me, on one hand you can not deny that lowering interest
rates 1.5% in such a short period of time, as the Fed has done
since the start of the year, is certainly acting aggressively, and, at
the same time, that there is not much they could have done in the
inevitable unwinding of the technology bubble. But some of us
aren”t new to the criticism game. We were arguing last fall that
the Fed had to still start moving (and make up for its tightening
mistakes earlier in the year) when it was very clear something was
amiss. And a fewer number of us recognized that it was more
than the economic health of the U.S., it was avoiding hard
landings elsewhere.
And make no mistake this is a hard landing, so the Fed failed in
their mission. But to the issue of the technology bubble itself,
yes, much of what has transpired was inevitable. Heck, for
starters, that”s the beauty of America and our form of capitalism.
From time to time, money chases a new fad or investment craze
until enough people slap their friends around and say, “Wake up!
This is not the next Big Thing!” Then it”s like everyone drops the
hot potato, a company”s stock goes from $200 to $2 and the
money finds a more worthy, viable home. That”s what efficient
markets are all about. It just takes time.
But back to the Fed. They saw the signs of the slowdown last fall
and they also knew inflation wasn”t a problem (and still isn”t).
They also certainly understood the dynamics of our modern world
economy. When we sneeze, it”s not a question of if but when as
to the rest of the world catching cold. Would the Fed moving in
the fall have helped some? Of course. And I”m sick of this “They
didn”t know where the election was headed” talk, and, “They
didn”t want to be seen taking sides.” That”s the politician in Alan
Greenspan and I thought the Fed Chairman was supposed to be
apolitical. Oh well, we know the answer to that now, if we didn”t
before.
And if Greenspan is suddenly so worried about consumer
confidence and how America”s spending patterns are tied to the
markets, then he certainly should have recognized that he would
be sending the wrong signal by only reducing rates half a percent
this time around. The chairman failed us.
—
In the words of Yogi Berra, it was deja vu all over again for me
this week. For starters we had a reprise of Professor Jeremy
Siegel”s brilliant and prescient 3/14/00 op-ed piece in the Wall
Street Journal, wherein he called the collapse in Nasdaq. This
week”s update reached this sobering conclusion, Nasdaq is
still capable of falling much lower.
Siegel”s main point is that estimates of future growth for the big
cap tech names are still “silly.” Issues like Cisco, Oracle, Sun
Micro, and EMC continue to sport projected 5-year growth rates
of 25-30%, and in the case of the 4 just named, the estimate is
actually higher for three of them than analysts anticipated one
year ago.
And seeing Siegel”s piece reminded me of a story that some of
you have read before but which bears repeating in light of where
the markets are today. In the fall of ”98, one of my last
presentations for PIMCO Funds was at a financial planning
conference in Philadelphia. Professor Siegel spoke before me.
His book, “Stocks for the Long Run,” was gaining renewed
acceptance as the markets moved ever higher and he was a hot
property. The hall was jammed for his talk and he was bullish as
ever. After he finished, though, the room emptied out and I was
left speaking to a crowd of 10. Rather humbling, I might add.
Heck, I give a pretty mean speech but the audience also knew I
was going to be talking about bonds. Well, I poured my heart
and soul into it anyway, doom and glooming those ten until I had
them fearing for the very survival of planet earth.
So guess what? Since the fall of ”98, you would have been far
better off in bonds, or simply cash. Yes, at one point or another
this week the Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq were all well
below their levels of 12/31/98, and the latter two remain so.
12/31/98
Dow Jones 9181
S&P 500 1229
Nasdaq 2192
Lows on Thursday…3/22/01
Dow Jones 9106 [Finished the week at 9504]
S&P 500 1081 [1140]
Nasdaq 1794 [1928]
*Now Professor Siegel deserves a ton of credit, however,
because he had you in stocks throughout all of ”99 and got you
out of Nasdaq at the peak last March. Way to go Jeremy!
And I also had a bit of deja vu observing Thursday”s market
action where the Dow Jones staged its 300-point late day rally. It
reminded me of the time my associate and I were doing a client
seminar for Jerry and the boys down in Melbourne, Florida on
October 8, 1998. Market junkies will remember that day well. [I
know Jerry does.] Back then the market staged another
stupendous reversal. It was the peak of the Long-Term Capital
debacle but the markets, which had been swooning over, first, the
Russian crisis, and then, LTC, said “enough already, we will
survive.”
I was sitting in my hotel room before the evening seminar,
watching the Dow Jones go from an intraday low of 7399 to a
closing level of 7731. And you see above where it then finished
the year. [The S&P closed at 959 that day. Nasdaq 1419.] It
was a classic blowoff.
Well, was this past Thursday a similar one? I”m not that smart
but, Lord knows, we are entitled to a decent rally. However,
before you go bonkers (and after the lessons of the past year I
can”t imagine any of you will), remember Professor Siegel”s own
admonition concerning Nasdaq today and, also, don”t forget the
other two factors that will continue to weigh on the markets; we
have way too much debt and there is still tremendous
overcapacity, particularly in items we don”t need.
Street Bytes
–The Dow lost over 300 points on the week, 3.2%. But Nasdaq
finally broke its losing streak of 7 straight down weeks, gaining
2%. And the S&P had its first positive Friday of the year! Are
you celebrating!
–Having discounted the Fed”s move, interest rates were virtually
unchanged, though they are still counting on further reductions at
the next meeting, May 15, if not sooner.
U.S. Treasury Yields
1-yr. 4.16% 2-yr. 4.32% 10-yr. 4.80% 30-yr. 5.30%
The market was spooked somewhat by the release of a higher-
than-expected consumer price report. Relax. CPI is running at
an annualized rate of 3.5% with the core rate at 2.7%.
–Tax cuts: Congress is moving at light speed (for them) and I”m
as giddy as a school boy. What will I do with my newfound
money? Perhaps a couple packs of baseball cards, yeah, that”s the
ticket! Actually, we might get something fairly substantial. But
what worries me is that our representatives will opt for more of a
one-time incentive, instead of real structural change. I may be in
a little different financial situation than some of you but I”d rather
give up something this year for a real reduction in marginal rates.
It seems to me that is far more important down the road. If we
don”t get the rates down now, we never will. But I think I”m in a
minority on this one.
–While I keep writing about the Fed”s responsibility in saving the
world, someone also needs to light a fire under the European
Central Bank. As columnist David Ignatius noted, “The ECB
continues to operate as if it”s trying to save Weimar Germany
from hyper-inflation, rather than finance the growth of the New
Europe.”
–Time and U.S. News had a “bear” on their cover this week,
while Newsweek had an extensive market story. This is normally
a great contrarian signal. [The just issued Business Week has
Alan Greenspan gracing its cover.]
–It took another school shooting to keep Wall Street from being
the lead story on the national news. And they should stop
showing the shootings. It obviously only exacerbates the
situation (as does leading with Wall Street every night!)
–Once again you have an example of why I refuse to get swept
up in these U.S. dollar doomsday scenarios. Some day it will pan
out, no doubt, but the dollar rallied this week, even as the Dow
collapsed. We”re still the best game in town.
–Semiconductor stocks rallied 12% on Thursday, a good sign for
bulls as the group often leads us down, then takes us up.
–As anticipated, mutual fund redemptions out of some of the
more aggressive offerings are beginning to mount. I”m hoping for
a slow week one of these days so I can really walk you through
how flows work at a fund complex. Suffice it to say that with most
of those impacted today, it normally takes a year before the
outflows slow (with few exceptions). On the other hand, it also
normally takes the current winners (today, value funds) over
a year after a run of good performance before investors make the
switch over to them. Obviously, today the large growth and
technology funds that see redemptions need to sell stocks to meet
the cash needs of the portfolio, so that”s added pressure on the
names the fund was investing in.
–I am continually surprised at the ongoing complacency of many
investors today, and I hate to say this but I”m convinced a
majority of this group has no clue just how well their holdings
need to perform before they break even. Maybe it”s just as well
they don”t know. Otherwise we might have a run on razor
blades.
–I noticed a few shareholder suits have now been launched
against Amazon for being less than forthcoming in their financial
reports. And everyone is beginning to pick up on Amazon”s use
of “pro forma operating results” (as are a lot of companies these
days). What the average investor needs to know when they hear
this is that pro forma excludes some rather important items, like
interest expense on the debt. But by employing this method, a
company like Amazon may be able to claim a pro forma profit,
when they are really still losing money by more accepted
standards. Even Sam Donaldson nailed Amazon”s Jeff Bezos on
this issue for “This Week” last Sunday. [The best material on
Amazon has been written by Barron”s Mark Veverka. It”s worth
looking up.]
–If you watch CNBC you”ve probably noticed this new
commercial for Online Investors Advantage where they offer a
free audio tape, “The Online Investing Revolution.” Someone
needs to tell the founder of this outfit that when you shoot a
commercial showing a copy of the audio tape, it”s probably best
not to have “Copyright 1999” on it.
–The attempted spinoff of Lucent”s Agere division has thus far
been an unmitigated disaster. Imagine, one of the darlings of
yesteryear, now on the verge of “junk” status, was hoping to offer
Agere at $16-$18 a share. But then reality set in and now Lucent
may bring it between $6-$7. If you ever wanted an IPO but
couldn”t get the shares, believe me, you can walk into any
brokerage firm involved in this deal and get all you want. Beyond
that, no comment.
–Real estate: I keep issuing warnings and then I continue to be
shocked. This time a unit in my condo complex just sold for
$477,000…and we”re 3 blocks from a collapsing corporate
behemoth (Lucent). It”s totally insane.
–So I was sick of hearing about the Fed on Tuesday and 7
minutes after the announcement I turned down the sound on
CNBC and put my oldies radio station back on. Immediately, the
DJ was talking about the change in rates. We all need a life.
–What Wall Street fears most is what financial writer Jim Grant
would label the “onset of cynicism.” Market activity could grind
to a halt once we get through April. Just my guess. And in the
long run, that would be the best thing for all of us. Time repairs
all wounds (most of them at least).
–Last 12/23 in this space I passed along something that Barron”s
Gene Epstein labels a surefire signal of a market bottom. It”s
worth repeating. IF a recession hits, looking at past downturns,
the damage is done for the stock market when the S&P 500
rallies 10% off of its lows. But, as Mr. Epstein points out, the
tough part is predicting when the recession starts. [And I
personally think we”ll avoid one. But I”m following this closely
nonetheless.]
So our new closing low on the S&P is Thursday”s 1117. 10%
from there is 1229. Epstein back-tested this theory, but, again, it
works only if we have a recession and the S&P may cross the
10% threshold well before we have confirmation we are in one.
–Technology update: The Journal had dueling front page stories
on Wednesday dealing with the telecom revolution and tech
spending. The two headlines read, “The broader slowdown isn”t
the only cause of tech industry”s ills,” and, “As Fed trims rates,
other forces work to dilute the benefits.” Nothing we haven”t
covered before, that”s for sure, but two quotes from the articles
are worth noting.
Vanguard, the mutual fund complex, commented that the big
spending “is behind us” and that “there”s not as much need to
upgrade.” Just as in my comment on Schwab last week, only
they were physically dismantling some of their systems due to
overcapacity. [And you saw that Schwab announced the other
day that 13% of their workforce was no longer needed.]
And, lest you get too bullish on a rebound in tech spending, there
was the consultant who said, “Eighteen months from now, it”s
going to look a lot worse.”
But the statement of the week award goes to a fellow writing in
Business Week from London.
“The advantage of handheld, Net-enabled machines, though, is
that they can extend e-mail, ticket orders, inventory levels, and
music downloads into the hands of buyers and sellers every
waking hour.”
The guy is serious. Sad, very sad. Wake up, buddy! We don”t
need it and it”s amazing that there are still some very smart people
who believe that the average person in New York, London, or
Guam spends his or her day walking around making flight
arrangements, unless they are using a stolen credit card, of
course.
And remember OpenWave, the company that makes web phone
software? [There”s a sale at Starbucks!] It was only a few weeks
ago that the shares sold for $64. This week they hit $19 before
finishing around $25. [They were $181 last spring.]
Energy: California was hit with rolling blackouts as a combination
of idled plants, zero conservation savings and 87 degree weather
in parts of the state conspired to cause a surge in demand. The
weather event was a harbinger of things to come. The long range
forecast is awful for both the East and West coasts, with
potentially well above normal temperatures during the summer
months. You can talk all you want about bringing more supply
onstream, but until new plants are built (which obviously takes
time), we”re at the mercy of the weather gods. And I mention the
East Coast because there is increasing talk that the New York
area could have its own problems this summer.
Meanwhile, California officials claim that the power generators
and traders overcharged the state some $6.2 billion during the
recent crisis. It”s certainly possible. But lost in the debate is this
simple fact…Californians continue to operate in a state of denial.
There is one encouraging development in the current energy mess
and that is the growing positive sentiment for nuclear power. No
new construction permits have been issued in the U.S. since 1975.
That may finally change. And it will provide jobs for the radicals,
who should be practicing the art of chaining oneself to a fence.
As for the impact of OPEC”s production cut, you saw there was
none. Oil was largely unchanged on the week. It”s all about
worldwide economic growth (or lack thereof) at this point, and
it”s why I”m temporarily out of the sector. Yet it was comical on
Monday morning watching “The Today Show”s” Matt Lauer interview
an oil expert. Lauer was frustrated the man wouldn”t give him the
answer the media is looking for. Forget the facts. “Is (gasoline)
going to be up one or two cents, which is it?” It could be down.
[Just a little note on the Petrobras disaster. This week the
world”s largest offshore oil platform sank, killing 10. The well
was responsible for 5% of Petrobras” total production. For
awhile it looked as though engineers might save it, which would
have been perhaps the greatest feat of the past few decades.
Instead, we should at least get a good adventure flick out of it
some day.]
–This week”s “StocksandNews Irrelevant Person of the Week”
award goes to the entire Wall Street analyst community. I don”t
have enough Y2K flashlights to give you all but please accept this
coupon for some Sara Lee Crow Pie. [Actually, I labeled the
entire group irrelevant last summer, but I didn”t have this award
then you know!]
–Remember that investment club appearance I mentioned last
week? Well, I did get the chance to speak to 12 lovely women (it
was a tough job, but someone had to do it). And I must say I
was very impressed with the group”s market knowledge, as well
as their portfolio. Of course I told them the world was ending so
they probably haven”t slept real well since, but, hey, that”s what
I”m here for!
–My portfolio: OK, I”m still 100% cash and bonds, and I won”t
keep commenting unless I make a change. I was close to pulling
the trigger for a trade, only, but I held off mainly because I
couldn”t devote my full attention to the markets that particular
day and if you”re trading, you better be able to.
But I do need to explain my hefty bond position for those of you
who are new to the site. Last January I purchased a “high
quality” junk fund. Junk bonds move more in tandem with the
overall economy, and obviously the fortunes of the individual
company, more than they react to changes in interest rates. In
other words, junk bonds are more like stocks, only far less
volatile when packaged in a mutual fund.
I purchased this particular offering (sorry, no names because it is
far too risky for the uninitiated and I can”t take that responsibility)
at a net asset value (NAV) of $9.85. A few weeks later it was at
$10.09. Today, it is back to $9.87 as concerns about the nation”s
economic health mount.
I told you when I purchased it that all I was looking for was a
“total return” of one percent over money markets. Anything over
that is gravy. Well, if the fund ended the year at $9.85, and it
pays a dividend of 8.5%, I”m well ahead of the game. On the
other hand, I understand the risks and I won”t be surprised if the
NAV drops to $9.60 or so. I”d still be ahead of cash. Of course,
if we are able to avoid recession, I expect the portfolio”s value to
pick up again. Sorry for being longwinded, but I owe you a
full explanation.
International Affairs
It”s a new day, you people of Russia, China, and North Korea.
The Bush Administration has sent signals that we won”t be
pushed around anymore. To wit:
Russia: Spy vs. Spy. Unfortunately, Russia would appear to be
winning. Robert Hanssen was a treasure trove of information and
it”s anyone”s guess as to how many of our agents may have lost
their lives as a result of the info that Hanssen provided to the
Kremlin. [If I recall correctly, Aldrich Ames was responsible for
about 20 of our men losing theirs.] So President Bush booted 50
Russian agents in retaliation. On Friday, President Putin booted
50 of ours.
This isn”t a return to the Cold War, but as our new leadership
understands, Russia is no ally. It is a competitor, primarily on the
foreign policy front where they continue to be a major supplier of
arms to some of the world”s bad guys. And speaking of bad guys,
what is getting little press is the fact that the action in Chechnya is
heating up again. Chechens killed at least 20 Russian soldiers last
week alone. While at the same time Russian officers are on trial
for abuses against the Chechen people.
China: Remember the name Gao Zhan, a Chinese scholar at
American University who has been detained in Beijing on charges
of espionage. But Mrs. Gao has a 5-year-old son, Andrew, who
is an American citizen (his parents aren”t). For 26 days, Andrew
has not been told what happened to his parents, or whether he
would see them again. The Bush Administration has blasted the
Chinese on this issue. And it”s just another example of how
China operates. Strategist Robert Kagan wrote the following in
Friday”s Washington Post.
“The Chinese government tortures people. It tortures people
who try to organize democratic parties, who practice Buddhism
or Catholicism, or who engage in certain kinds of breathing
exercises. It ties them up by their arms or upside down by their
ankles and beats them with wooden poles. It listens to them
howl, watches them bleed and keeps on beating them. Sometimes
it beats them to death.”
In the past the U.S. did nothing. China”s timing on this latest
incident couldn”t be worse because we are in the process of
deciding what weapons systems to sell to Taiwan. The hope here
is that we give Taiwan essentially everything they want. And, just
as importantly in the court of world opinion, we should publicly
oppose Beijing”s 2008 Olympics bid. Torture can”t be rewarded.
Middle East: Prime Minister Sharon came to Washington and it is
very clear where the new leaders of Israel and the U.S. stand with
regards to any peace negotiations. Nothing serious will transpire
until the Palestinians renounce violence. In addition, Arafat is
viewed by both as the culprit. This is as it should be, and Bush
has sent another signal in inviting Egypt”s Mubarak and the
King of Jordan, two moderates, for talks in Washington, but
pointedly not Arafat.
Japan: The Bank of Japan cut interest rates to zero in the hope
that with borrowing costs as low as they can go (they still haven”t
worked out a system yet where the bank lends you $100,000 and
also pays you interest…but it”s coming!), maybe consumers will
start spending. After all, when it comes to savings, the Japanese
ten-year bond yields a whopping 1.0%! Let”s see, my “Rule of
72s” tells me that your money would then double in…
(drumroll)…72 years! Geezuz, Mrs. Hashimoto, live a little!
Buy a box of candy or something. Perhaps a Slim Jim.
Actually, of course, the zero interest rate policy is also in effect to
encourage banks to lend more as the Bank of Japan floods the
system with money. And this week at least, investors in Japan
liked the apparent effort to turn things around with the Nikkei
staging a 7.5% rally on Wednesday and finishing up 1,000 points
on the week.
The Balkans: 35% of the population of Macedonia is ethnic-
Albanian. The Albanians claim that the majority Macedonians
(Slavs) discriminate against them. [I probably would too…on the
StocksandNews scale of good people, with Americans and
Canadians grading out to a 10, Albanians eke out a 2.] But what
the recent flareup in Macedonia really is all about is not
necessarily an attempt by the Albanians to carve out a Greater
Albania, including Kosovo and parts of Macedonia, but rather an
effort by criminal elements (organized crime) to maintain a hold
on the drug and smuggling trades. The leaders of this “rebel”
movement are awful, nasty people. When NATO carved up
Kosovo, it in essence created 7 little fiefdoms for the crime
bosses, and now these same folks are attempting to take over a
few more blocks. So don”t believe the “independence” garbage.
The problem is, however, that if fighting really breaks out,
Bulgaria, Albania, and Greece can easily become involved.
NATO can”t just sit back, and, in fact, they are supplying the
Macedonian government with invaluable intelligence. But they
may need to do far more.
Iran: The Fundamentalists shut down the last opposition
newspaper, not necessarily a great sign as they head into a general
election this June.
Iraq: More stories on Saddam. Is he seriously ill or not? On one
hand, his aides seem to be speaking freely of his bout with cancer.
On the other, U.S. intelligence officials think he”s fine and that a
disinformation campaign is underway as a means of getting the
West to relax the sanctions.
Pakistan: Last week it was the Indian government that had major
troubles. This week it was Pakistan as the ruling military
leadership rounded up hundreds of opposition party figures. Note
to self, cancel trip to Karachi.
Mad Cow / Foot-and-Mouth
My buddy Johnny Mac had the best advice for Americans, load
up on hummus and cous cous. [For you traders out there, I have
enlisted Johnny”s considerable Wall Street experience in
establishing a hummus futures contract. “Hummus…for a healthier
America.”]
Well, folks, you saw the two herds of Vermont sheep (imported
from Europe years ago) being led to slaughter this week, amidst
testing to see if they were infected with mad cow. This was the
federal government taking the step, not the editors of
StocksandNews. It”s just a matter of time. And in Britain,
doctors looked at 5 victims of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (the
human form of mad cow) in a single village and reached the
incredibly scary conclusion that C-J had a 10-16 year incubation
period. We”ve known of this in theory. Now authorities have
proved it.
That”s what mad cow is all about. Sheer terror. Imagine the
folks still living in this small village, who were eating products
from the same infected butcher shops all these years. They have
no real idea if they have the disease or not. While the actual
number of deaths over the coming years may be relatively small,
it”s the uncertainty of it all that”s so terrible.
And with regards to foot-and-mouth, it”s the uncertainty of any
terrorist threat that is also the most frightening part. More and
more responsible folks are coming forward with the theory that
the current epidemic in Europe could actually be a bioterrorism
attack. And it”s not far-fetched that this is in retaliation for the
U.S.-British bombings of Iraq. If not this time, certainly in the
future. Nell Boyce of U.S. News writes:
“It would be easy for a terrorist to rub cotton swabs in an infected
cows nostrils in Britain, hop a plane to Washington, D.C., and
then drive around infecting cows in nearby Virginia pastures.”
The disease will now claim at least 300,000 animals in the UK
alone. [Just three weeks ago it was expected to be about
100,000.] Some European nations are opting to inoculate,
rather than destroy herds. But the criticism with this practice is
that you can no longer then claim your animals are “disease-free,”
a goal of European agricultural policy…as it obviously should be
everywhere.
And in Ireland, the discovery of foot-and-mouth in the Republic
has caused a panic. Agriculture accounts for 13% of Ireland”s
GDP and the nation exports 90% of its farm production. In
addition, tourism is another 5% of the economy. To give you an
idea of the impact, when it was announced that foot-and-mouth
was confirmed, the Dublin stock exchange dropped 5%.
Random Musings
–And with all this talk of animal diseases, there are 5,000 deaths
a year from food poisoning in this country, but with 85% a result
of contaminated fruits, veggies, seafood and cheeses; not beef or
chicken. Nonetheless, the discovery this week that some New
York area meat processors are escaping inspection is rather
unsettling. Especially when you see what really goes on at
Satriale”s.
–A real commercial. “New Harmony cereal. Made just for a
woman”s body.” Guys, stay away from this.
–Yak update: The following is a real conversation, as reported by
Monte Whaley of the Boulder (Co.) News. The town of
Broomfield”s city council met to rule on the zoning code and
allowances for ranching.
“I have a question,” said Councilman Larry Cooper. “What is a
Yak?”
“It”s a large, hairy thing,” responded City Attorney Roy Howard.
What is a Yak? Geezuz. For starters, what we”ve learned over
the past few weeks is that the Yak is not only a truly noble, if
somewhat mangy, creature, but it is also energy self-sufficient!
Perfect for the times, until we get the pipeline going from the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. More exciting council hearings
next week, if I can find them.
–Haven”t we been here before? Hillary”s New York City office
rent is $514,000, $90,000 more than the second most expensive
U.S. Senator”s office. We foot the bill. By comparison, New
York”s other senator, Charles Schumer, has an office just a block
from Hillary”s, yet it cost $210,000. The New York Post
interviewed a real estate broker who said Clinton”s rent was
legitimate.
“She”s like royalty. She”s the ex-president”s wife. She lived in
the White House for 8 years, for crying out loud.” Oh brother.
–Scott down in Melbourne sent a note asking why his friend”s
1970 Chevy Impala gets about the same gas mileage as some of
today”s SUVs? Scott knows the answer, of course; we haven”t
held Detroit”s feet to the fire when it comes to energy efficiency!
–Murray Weiss of the New York Post (good week for them)
broke the scary story of Abraham Abdullah, and his act of
cyberfraud (more like cyber-terrorism). What”s awful is that this
dirtball ex-con (he had an extensive prior record) was able to get
the social security numbers of America”s wealthiest from the very
credit agencies, like TRW, that should have the ultimate security
in place. From there, it was easy pickings for this scumbag.
[You have to be pretty rotten to earn a dirtball and scumbag in
the same paragraph. As a matter of fact, that could be a new
StocksandNews record. I”ll put our crack staff on it.]
–Puffy Combs and his attorneys continue to thank God for his
acquittal on weapons and bribery charges. He”s found religion,
you know.
–Yup, a new record for Abraham Abdullah.
–Salon.com is going the way of the rest of the content crowd,
attempting to charge its users. But StocksandNews will remain
free! How can that be, you ask? Oil…Texas tea…black gold.
Regular Gold closed at $261
Oil, $27.30
Returns for the week, 3/19-3/23
Dow Jones -3.2%
S&P 500 -0.9%
S&P MidCap -0.5%
Russell 2000 +0.3%
Nasdaq +2.0%
Returns for the period, 1/1/01-3/23/01
Dow Jones -11.9%
S&P 500 -13.7%
S&P MidCap -11.4%
Russell 2000 -8.3%
Nasdaq -21.9%
Bulls 51.6%
Bears 30.9% [Source: Investors Intelligence]
Note: I have a little piece on the 1973-74 Bear Market on my
“Wall Street History” link.
Thanks for your support. Spread the word.
Brian Trumbore
