Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: orkrious who wrote (62768)	1/26/2007 11:13:27 AM
From: mishedlo	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

thanks Mish

To: orkrious who wrote (62768)	1/26/2007 1:21:16 PM
From: mishedlo	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 116555

Millennium Bankshares shutting down mortgage business biz.yahoo.com Millennium Bankshares will wind down its mortgage banking business to focus solely on core banking services, the company announced Thursday. Bank officials say they will delay the release of their year-end financial results until they can determine the costs that will be incurred to close down the mortgage subsidiaries. The charges would be taken in the fourth quarter of 2006, according to the Reston-based bank, which has seven branches in Virginia, including five in Northern Virginia. "We were concerned about future volatility in earnings as a result of the soft housing market and wanted to eliminate, going forward, the risks normally associated with mortgage banking activities," says Carroll Markley, Millennium's CEO, in a statement. ...

To: orkrious who wrote (62768)	1/26/2007 2:04:49 PM
From: mishedlo	Respond to of 116555

graphs on New Home Sales calculatedrisk.blogspot.com

To: orkrious who wrote (62768)	1/26/2007 2:10:25 PM
From: mishedlo	Respond to of 116555

Subcontractors Learn Hard Lesson wowt.com The market for new homes is predicted to thaw out this spring. In the meantime some smaller builders are struggling to pay bills until home sales pick up, especially sales for higher priced houses. It's a lesson in economics some subcontractors are learning the hard way – one which shows the system isn’t always fair. Drywaller Jim Tracy’s six employees wouldn’t work for him if he didn’t pay them. So Tracy can't cover his frustration over not being paid about 13-thousand dollars by a home builder months after completing work on a 300-thousand dollar house. Tracy says "We had to dip into our savings quite a bit to come up with the money just to keep afloat because my suppliers expect me to pay my end. My guys have families, too, so I paid them." About eight subcontractors thought they had been protected by liens that had to be paid off when the house was sold. But the drywaller was shocked to find his lien paperwork was no good because the house has been foreclosed on by a bank. Real estate attorney Tom Penke represents the builder, Pearl Construction. "My client, the builder, lost the house and that means all of the subcontractors lost their interest in the house," says Penke. But the builder who has refinanced his own home to raise money hopes to smooth out relationships with subcontractors. Penke says "He's definitely not walking away. He's a home builder and he's here to stay. He'll make it right with all the subcontractors no matter how much time it takes." Drywaller Jim Tracy says trust and a handshake with a builder may not be enough for every subcontractor to stand on anymore. "Now if people are a little bit late with payments, maybe a week or a couple of days, the first thing on your mind is, is this going to happen again?" This subcontractor believes sunny days are ahead in the housing industry and he's hopeful he won't have to lean on lien laws again. The owner of pearl construction has a new banker who has faith the builder will remain in business. That's why his attorney is confident all subcontractors will be paid eventually. Another attorney who represents several builders says he's seeing an up turn in sales of lower to moderate priced homes.

To: orkrious who wrote (62768)	1/26/2007 2:20:06 PM
From: mishedlo	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

The Best Small Cap for 2007: Pan American Silver TMF jumps on the PAAS bandwagon after all these years. Note: This was written December 7th but I was just made aware of it. fool.com December 7, 2006 As fears of an inverted yield curve, a weakening dollar, and an economic slowdown mount, commodities are getting more attention. Why, you ask? Well, for one thing, the performance of commodities in general, and precious metals in particular, has historically had a low correlation with the rest of the market, so the sector becomes more appealing in down markets. But precious metals have also done well in the bull market of the past few years. Consider, for instance, that the Vanguard Precious Metals & Mining Fund has gained 36% per annum over the past five years and the streetTRACKSGold Shares (NYSE: GLD) ETF, which roughly tracks the value of gold, is up 23% in the past 52 weeks. The S&P 500, by comparison, is up roughly 6% per year over the past five years and 14% in the past year. Silver spoons Silver-mining stocks, as a group, have done particularly well -- up 49% in the past 52 weeks. Among this group are: Company YTD Performance* Silver Standard Resources (Nasdaq: SSRI) 100% Hecla Mining (NYSE: HL) 83% Silver Wheaton (NYSE: SLW) 99% Apex Silver Mines (AMEX: SIL) 7% Coeur d'Alene Mines (NYSE: CDE) 34% *Data courtesy of Morningstar, as of Dec. 6, 2006. As you can see, not all silver-mining stocks perform the same in a strong silver market. So which one is the best for your portfolio? One silver company that investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, our new investing community service, are overwhelmingly bullish on is Pan American Silver (Nasdaq: PAAS). Fully 94% of CAPS investors who have rated the stock believe it will "outperform" the S&P 500 in the future. Follow this link to hear what the CAPS investors are saying about Pan American. Now, perhaps some of the enthusiasm behind Pan American stems from Jim Cramer's endorsement on Mad Money earlier this year, but the stock has certainly performed nicely over the past year -- up 37% year-to-date. Pan American performance has shown a strong correlation with the iSharesSilver Trust ETF (SLV) since the ETF was released in April 2006, but expanding operating margins and strong revenue growth may help Pan American push well ahead of the silver-tracking ETF down the road. And, being a small-cap company, Pan American naturally has more room to run than some of its larger cap counterparts. Ag, there's a silver lining! Precious metals stocks are inherently volatile, so tread carefully. Your time horizon and risk tolerance should be considered before jumping into the precious metals market. If you're nearing retirement, for example, and are generally conservative with your investments, you may want to stay away from this group altogether. For instance, the aforementioned Vanguard Precious Metals Fund was down every year between 1994 and 1998, and lost 40% in 1997 alone. Imagine if you had to sell this fund in 1997 to pay for retirement expenses and half of your investment was gone! So, is Pan American Silver going to be the best small-cap investment of 2007? It's certainly possible if silver prices keep rising, but only time will tell.