Mini Barron's Review: Good issue this time. Abelson's column wasn't as funny as usual, but it was good. He skewers Dubya's love-in in Waco. And talking about why Greenscam didn't cut the discount rates, he said that AG is holding on to the few rate whacks he's got left. And after they're done..."but there is no after that." <g>
A hedge fund manager spouts that we rally into the invasion of Iraq. And his favorite investment, or Abelson's, it isn't clear: The Ten Year T-Note.
Abelson also quotes one of my favorite analysts, Will Lyons, of "Short On Value." Will thinks CAKE is using funky accounting to pad its reported eps. They'd better be careful. Clinton you could bribe with cheesecake while Dubya was battered by a drunken Cheeto, so he may not be friendly to any co. with Chee at the start of its name. <g>
2. Pension funds are sucking wind. 50% of public ones are underfunded. Man, we are going to have the saddest bunch of 80 year old street people in this country.
3. Schwab is going to be a laughing stock. Again! They will not only have a hedge fund that is doomed, but they are going to have a fund that buys the crapola their quantitative model is selling to suckers...er, deserving clients. They are missing the main ingredient of these broker gimmicks: no scorekeeping.
4. A dumb article about high yield stocks.
5. Another dumb article about buying junk debt. If the chart of 5 year returns on junk bond mutual funds doesn't scare people off, nothing will. But, if you have to play in this toilet, I recommend taking the Tidy Bowl of a "good" junk fund, not individual issues. In diversification, there is the safety of less than 100% losses.
6. Outstanding interview with Ned Davis. He seems to think there will be more downside and that overwhelming debt that has no collateral behind it will put a damper on these dead cat bounces we are seeing. He worries about deflation. And margin debt, though down from 1999, is still way above average levels. He expects real interest rates to be very high while nominal rates stay low. He also gives Greenscam a good kick.
7. A separate article about Greenscam's missteps. I'm beginning to wonder if AG took the free trial of Barron's and never signed up for the full price sub. <g>
8. Bob Carver has a nice blurb in the Market Watch section. He thinks we are in deflation and that the Fed doesn't get it.
9. Mailbag has two people complaining about the absence of the closed end fund section last week. Good. It was always me in the past and I can no longer write those letters.
10. The "Asian Trader" column is excellent and touting the brains of my current favorite, Cheung Kong and its Chairman Li. They are talking a 40% pop in Huwhy, which Cheuy owns more than half of. I love that kind of talk. <g> |
