To All, Barron's review. A mixed issue, with a few good pieces and a lot of fluff.
1. Abelson has a nice paragraph or two about how the problems with China stealing our nuclear secrets is going to hit US computer and chip cos. I don't know if I buy the argument. Also, cell phones are causing hair cancer again.
2. An excellent article by James Bianco called "Forget Inflation." He posits the idea that rates will go up until the stock market crashes and offers a lot of supporting facts and figures. I disagree with him on some points. But he makes sense. His argument is more in tune with the one Chris has been penning on this thread. The one thing I vehemently disagree with about Bianco's piece is that he doesn't realize that bubble stock prices are inflation, not a different factor. They just aren't in the CPI and PPI numbers.
3. A big article on the IBM/Lotus insider trading scam. Kind of boring, actually.
4. A totally silly article about how the market reacts to Triple Crown winners and Two Legs and Stumble at The Belmont horses. As nonsensical as The Super Bowl indicator. Barron's regularly publishes pieces like this and I think it detracts from their credibility. Oh, well, they also cover technicians. <g>
5. 3 Telecom geeks talk about who will dominate the world telecom market in the future. A yawner.
6. Gene Epstein quotes Jason Benderly, again, about why wages will be going up. Since Benderly is almost always out to lunch on his predictions, it is hard to give much weight to his musings.
7. On June 2, supposedly, Gruntal went from Strong Buy to Buy on American Home Products, my biggest put winner of last week. These guys are good. <g> For nothing.
8. An excellent "The Ground Floor" about how Reits are scamma-jammin' reported eps.
9. A mini review of a book called, "Hide Your Assets and Disappear." Why waste money on the book? Sign your assets over to me and I'll disappear your patootie for good. <g>
10. "Market Watch" has some nice comments. Gifford Securities compares the internet to electric cars and superconductor manias. Steve Puetz discusses how the Rubin Treasury flooded the world with debt. "The greater the credit inflation, the greater the inevitable deflationary spiral." Unfortunate last name, but some good thinking.
11. The Mailbag is all about Amazon. Bulls are making their usual brilliant argument of "oh, yeah?" <G>
12. In Trading Points, corporate bonds and their current free fall are discussed. Of course, everything gets better by the end of the year. <G>
13. The Mutual Fund section finally has something interesting. About how once hot fund manager, Pilgrim Baxter, is having trouble attracting a buyer for the troubled co. Momentum investing is for idiots and these guys proved it. In spades. |
