Quote :

"Forecasts for global IT spending in 2008 have been cut, as fears of a recession in the US puts the brakes on growth. Global spending on IT goods and services is expected to grow to just $1,695bn in 2008, a 6 per cent increase on last year, according to Forrester Research, the market research group. This represents a significant slowdown from 12 per cent growth last year"

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/dc19c972-d7fe-11dc-98f7-0000779fd2ac.html

Bad news on tech is growing.

2/10/2008 9:25:48 PM

slowing to 6% ?

that's not as rosy as last year's number, but it aint too bad. obviously at 6%, the sky isn't falling.

2/10/2008 9:31:58 PM

People will still get scared and start unloading.

2/10/2008 9:54:13 PM

i think we may have already be in the 1st or 2nd inning of the bottoming process...9th inning being in Q3

2/10/2008 9:58:41 PM

in May of 2006, i was listening to TI's 'what you know about that', and i made a remix. i basically copied the lyrics and changed some words around to make it market themed. i'm a geek and i love it... like to hear it? here it goes:

Quote :

"Aye.. What you know about that Aye... don't you know I got split by the three when I chirp shawty chirp back excel spreadsheet where i'm holding all my work at What you know about that What you know about that I know all about that 52 week lows on the low where the bottom at Fresh off the metals to the tech where the G's at See me in ya city sittin pretty kno I'm shining dawg Ridin wid a couple latin funds and a china stock And you kno how we ball Ridin in used Accords Or even Chevy Fords Buy everything we saw You know about me dogg Don't talk about me dogg And if you doubt me dogg You better out me dogg I'm throwed off slightly bro Don't wanna short me bro I'm fast as lightning bro ya better use ya margin bro Know you don't like me cause Yo b1tch most likely does She see me in the pubs In front of every club I be on whisky buzzed Give every ho a hug brokers don't show me mugs Cause you don't know me cuz Aye... don't you know I got split by the three when I chirp shawty chirp back excel spreadsheet where i'm holding all my work at What you know about that What you know about that I know all about that 52 week lows on the low where the bottom at Fresh off the metals to the tech where the G's at Caffeine on the '64 Losened tie and sleeves rolled 50 on the biotechs just to make my funds glow Ya b1tch3s get low Because I get dough So what I'm rich ho i got portfolios What you talking sh1t fo' gotta downgrade sh1t fo' Got you a yellin and I thought you put out a fed hit fo But you's a scary dude Believed by very few Just keep it very cool Or we will short sell you See all that attitude's, unneccesary dude you aint got Bloomberg tools don't even buy Q's You got these people fooled, who see me on the tube Whatever try the crew, they'll see you on the news Aye... don't you know I got split by the three when I chirp shawty chirp back excel spreadsheet where i'm holding all my work at What you know about that What you know about that I know all about that 52 week lows on the low where the bottom at Fresh off the metals to the tech where the G's at What you know about that What you know about that Hey what you know about that Hey I know all about that Fresh off the jet to the block Burn a rubber with a top-pop I'll pop and bust a shot and tell em stop and make the block hot Ya firm got got Cuz you are not hot I got the top spot And it will not stop A video or not that will bust it to the loss stop Drag ya out that earnings call and take it to the chop shop Partner, we got ya'll If it may pop off I'll answer the question "Will I get ya rate knocked off " And what it is bro Look I'll hedge ya, bro I'm on your street, if you SEC what you here for Somebody better get bro for he get sent for You say you wanna squash it what you still talkin sh1t for Aye... don't you know I got split by the three when I chirp shawty chirp back excel spreadsheet where i'm holding all my work at What you know about that What you know about that I know all about that 52 week lows on the low where the bottom at Fresh off the metals to the tech where the G's at What you know about that What you know about that Hey what you know about that Hey I know all about that"

2/10/2008 10:06:22 PM

i'll ride the Burnett trend

2/10/2008 11:59:35 PM

nice song...i like

2/11/2008 1:07:26 AM

I hope no one bought YHOO:

Yahoo board to spurn $44B Microsoft bid
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/microsoft_yahoo;_ylt=An7scGHZrtyRcA21SSvJjp.s0NUE

2/11/2008 9:00:14 AM

i love how they got a 60% gain in their stock from a deal that they knew they wouldn't accept.

[Edited on February 11, 2008 at 9:53 AM. Reason : ]

2/11/2008 9:50:10 AM

I'm really surprised they didn't see a big dip today.

2/11/2008 10:25:30 AM

There is still talk of a private equity firm interested in buying pieces of the company. Until that goes away, I think the stock stays elevated.

2/11/2008 10:57:57 AM

Got 120 shares of CSCO at $23.4876 (market order...sheesh... )

2/11/2008 11:41:39 AM

picked up some INP

the overnight beatdown was a bit extreme

2/11/2008 3:50:18 PM

oooh, GSK is tempting...

2/11/2008 3:53:54 PM

I would never do a market order, I'd rather go to my broker and open my wallet and tell him to take what he needs, because at least then he has to look me in the face.

2/11/2008 3:57:59 PM

Yes it is. Dividend on Wednesday.

2/11/2008 4:01:48 PM

How does that work if I buy on Tuesday?
What's the dividend?

2/11/2008 4:15:24 PM

The dividend is $0.6273/share which is just under 6% (really good). If you own it on the rec day (2/13) you'll get that amount per share. However the dividend isn't distributed until 4/10. You only have to own for the duration of the rec day. You can buy it Tuesday, sell it Thursday and still get the money down the road.

I might pick it up and sell in the money calls on it that expire friday. Right now it's at $42.90. I could sell calls at $42.50 for $0.70 right now and end up netting close to a dollar per share with little risk of a downside unless theres a sell off after the dividend (which will often happen to companies that do large dividends).

2/11/2008 4:21:07 PM

Damn, that's cool. Do they do div once a year?

2/11/2008 4:25:38 PM

Most dividends are quarterly. The 6% figure is based on annual distribution. If you just hold it for the week you'll be getting something like 1.5%.

Buying and selling based on dividend is a bad strategy though. If you look at most charts for companies that do 4% or higher you'll see a price spike equivalent to the dividend during the week or so before and after.

2/11/2008 4:29:16 PM

So with a large dividend company is there a spike price in a week or is there a selloff?

2/11/2008 4:35:46 PM

As far as I've seen when a company has say a $0.70 dividend the price will often rise $0.70 in the days preceding the rec day and then fall back the same amount afterwards. Spike may have been too dramatic a word.

The point is don't buy a stock and hold it for 2 days just so you can collect a dividend. I'm long on 3 ETFs (ETJ, ETV,and ETW) that pay a 10% annual dividend and have very flat performance, it could be worth looking at if you're more of a passive trader who just likes to get paid for owning something.

[Edited on February 11, 2008 at 4:43 PM. Reason : too not to]

2/11/2008 4:42:24 PM

Is this a good idea for a buy and hold trader?

[Edited on February 11, 2008 at 4:49 PM. Reason : heh kind of an oxymoron]

2/11/2008 4:49:18 PM

Oh definitely. Most of my return comes from picking up solid companies with good technicals that pay a good dividend and then writing covered calls on them. I recommended those ETFs because they do the same thing for you. Basically they build an index fund of solid companies and sell covered calls on them while passing the option premium on to you as a dividend. If you go to the Eaton Vance site and look up those three funds you'll also see that right now all of them are undervalued (assets outweigh the market value) so it's a good time to pick them up.

They make up about 12% of my portfolio just because they mirror my investing style so much and I recommend them to anyone who has similar tastes.

2/11/2008 4:57:28 PM

^ good stuff.


good reads here:

http://www.bigtrends.com/document.jsp?documentid=118

2/11/2008 5:09:42 PM

What is buy write opp?

2/11/2008 5:35:14 PM

what happens to a company's stock when they are bought by another company?

in a simulation i'm in, i went short on a lot of Possis Medical (POSS) expecting them to keep dropping but today it was announced they would be bought by Bayer. i'm currently still holding my short position on the stock even though it lost me some money today, but i'm not sure if what i'm doing is right.

2/11/2008 9:25:07 PM

^^^^ so what is the risk like on those eaton vance shares? I could use a solid 10% yield, but want to know what I am getting into, and what the risk is on the upside/downside of the market.

2/11/2008 11:38:29 PM

ETJ:
52wk Range:16.20 - 20.20
Market Cap (mil):1,203.24
Dividend Yield:9.72%

ETV:
52wk Range:14.55 - 20.71
Market Cap (mil):1,061.83
Dividend Yield:11.26%

ETW:
52wk Range:14.51 - 21.50
Market Cap (mil):1,787.79
Dividend Yield:10.68%

http://www.eatonvance.com/closed_end/index.php

2/11/2008 11:46:46 PM

watching today's Fast Money on DVR -- Pete Najarian reiterated and Tim Seymour also mentioned NIHD plus it was a 4% pop .. i recommended a while back and i still like it

2/12/2008 12:17:05 AM

^^ Those 52 week lows/highs don't really represent their performance all that well. For the most part they all hover around $17-$18. My long term goal is to sit on them and possibly sell some whenever they top $20 and buy back later.

2/12/2008 2:59:05 AM

man, as much as i want the market to rebound, i don't want it to happen for another month or two...I need to accumulate some more money in my brokerage acct so i can swing one more nice trade with the market in the shitter.

2/12/2008 3:07:07 AM

typical bear market rally?

2/12/2008 11:10:13 AM

Quote :

"typical bear market rally?"

Warren Buffett says he might help bond insurers.

2/12/2008 11:12:25 AM

Quote :

"I would never do a market order, I'd rather go to my broker and open my wallet and tell him to take what he needs, because at least then he has to look me in the face."

What would you do, then? A limit order to save just a few $? I can't see the price of a stock changing so dramatically in the 1/2 a second from when I click to when the stock is bought, that it's going to save me more than a few dollars.

2/12/2008 11:27:55 AM

Yeah, what's wrong with market orders?

2/12/2008 12:18:02 PM

Market orders aren't that dramatic unless you're trading high volume and/or the market is very volatile at the time.

2/13/2008 10:53:48 AM

Just picked up some WCG. It's down b/c of health insurance probe

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUKN1334410320080213?rpc=44

2/13/2008 11:21:38 AM

a limit order in most situations is the way to go, why pay more than you have to? that's retarded

2/13/2008 11:30:36 AM

Am I worried about $20 if I'm buying $5,000 worth of stock?

2/13/2008 11:33:09 AM

yes, that's a round trip comission with most discount brokers. however, sometimes i find that i switch from limit to market if my limit price is a few pennies away from the market price, and i want to make sure my trade goes through beacuse i don't have all day to keep checking back on my order.

that's about it though, no need to spend anymore bandwith on worrying about market vs. limit.

2/13/2008 1:29:13 PM

I always do limit on options, as far as individual stocks I really don't have a preference. I can't count the times that I've put in a limit order and then the stock immediately climbs far beyond my price before I can buy it.

2/13/2008 2:34:02 PM

Here are my choices for my 401k. Advice would be greatly appreciated.


Blended Fund Investments*
CONSERVATIVE PORT
TARGET RET INCOME
TARGET RET 2010
TARGET RET 2015
TARGET RET 2020
TARGET RET 2025
TARGET RET 2030
TARGET RET 2035
TARGET RET 2040
* TARGET RET 2045
TARGET RET 2050



CORE FUNDS

Stock Investments

LARGE CAP VAL STOCK
LARGE CAP CORE STOCK
LARGE CAP STOCK INDX
LARGE CAP GRTH STK
INTERNATIONAL STOCK
INTL STOCK INDEX
SM/MID CAP VAL STOCK
SM/MID CAP CORE STK
SM/MID CAP STOCK IDX
SM/MID CAP GTH STK


Bond Investments

STABLE VALUE FUND
CORE BOND FUND
CORE PLUS BOND FUND
BOND INDEX FUND


EXTENDED CHOICES

Stock Investments

FID REAL ESTATE INVS
MAINSTAY ICAP EQ I
FID GROWTH & INCOME
FID CONTRAFUND
FIDELITY MAGELLAN
VANG PRIMECAP ADM
FIDELITY LOW PR STK
ARTISAN INTL
MFS INTL NEW DISC I
AF NEW WORLD R5
DOMINI SOCIAL EQTY R
DODGE & COX INTL STK
LAZARD EMERG MKTS IS

Bond Investments

PIM REAL RETURN INST
PIM GLOB BD US$HG I
PIM HIGH YIELD INST


COMPANY STOCK

Stock Investments
HP STOCK FUND

2/13/2008 5:42:43 PM

if you do the target retirement fund, you can just forget about everything else. they're designed to be standalone (though they aren't really my style).

There's no reason for you to bother with bonds at this point

I figured there would be an S&P tracker in there, but I don't see it. Maybe I'm blind.

I'm not familiar with most of those funds specifically...but off the top of my head (without researching any of those funds or seeing what the pros are saying in terms of allotment), I'd say get something on the order of 40% large cap index, 25% small/mid cap index, 10-15% Fidelity Contra, 10-15% international, 10% emerging markets.

depending on what company you're with and what kind of deal they cut you, maybe substitute part of the large cap or small/mid cap blocks (like 5% of total portfolio) with company stock.

[Edited on February 13, 2008 at 6:49 PM. Reason : asdf]

[Edited on February 13, 2008 at 6:53 PM. Reason : asdf]

2/13/2008 6:46:19 PM

A friend told me about HDY so I am debating if I should pick up some shares...

Has anyone bought or dealt with this company before?

http://finance.google.com/finance?q=AMEX:HDY

2/13/2008 7:02:32 PM

WTF is contra?

2/13/2008 7:27:43 PM

Fidelity Contra

What it is
A growth mutual fund.

Goal
Seeks to provide capital appreciation.

What it invests in
Primarily invests in common stocks. The fund may invest in securities of domestic and foreign issuers whose value the fund's manager believes is not fully recognized by the public. The fund may invest in "growth" or "value" stocks, or both. Share price and return will vary.

Who might want to invest in it
• Someone who wants the potential for long-term growth, and who is willing to ride out the fluctuation of the stock market for the potential of a higher return.
• Someone interested in reaping the possible benefits of investing in companies that are currently out of favor with investors but that show potential for improvement.



thanks for some advice - i'm just getting into the investing world

i've asked a few people at work what they've done and they are little help

the target retirement funds are only a year old i guess so i don't know what to think about them

2/13/2008 10:37:37 PM

how the hell do you not know the Contrafund?

its in your 401k plan and its probably the best known fund in the world next to Magellan.


Will Danoff was rated Fund manager of the year by multiple publications


Anyway, Contrafund and Low price stock are both closed to new investors.

[Edited on February 13, 2008 at 11:53 PM. Reason : a]

2/13/2008 11:52:28 PM

the dude with the gun is their fund manager

2/14/2008 12:59:45 AM

Quote :

"how the hell do you not know the Contrafund? its in your 401k plan and its probably the best known fund in the world next to Magellan."

Haha. I'm not familiar with Magellan either. Our last 401K provider had a dozen choices, all pretty generic.

2/14/2008 9:11:29 AM