MaoXian.com -- Archive > October 21, 2004

After Hours

Both Amazon and Microsoft are getting smacked, time to shut off the screens and call it a day. G'night, guys.

Posted at 21:20, GMT

The Production Code of the Motion Picture Industry (1930-1967)

"Adultery and illicit sex, sometimes necessary plot material, must not be explicitly treated or justified, or presented attractively." That's the line from the Code that made The Seven Year Itch an impossible movie to make back in 1954. They made the movie anyway, and it doesn't make a damn bit of sense if you watch it today.

It's worth noting that today a single really well-made music video will break every major (and minor) part of the Code. ;-)

"Dancing in general is recognized as an art and as a beautiful form of expressing human emotions. But dances which suggest or represent sexual actions, whether performed solo or with two or more; dances intended to excite the emotional reaction of an audience; dances with movement of the breasts, excessive body movements while the feet are stationary, violate decency and are wrong."

While the feet are stationary....

Posted at 21:15, GMT

How to Find RSS Feeds Using Yahoo!

Yahoo's advanced web search page has an option to choose "File Format" with RSS/XML (.xml) as one of the choices. This is a quick way to find RSS feeds, instead of poking around individual sites to find feeds.

There's also Feedster's FeedFinder, which may be even better than using Yahoo!

Posted at 15:15, GMT

Stocks to Watch -- Thursday, October 21

Posted at 14:15, GMT

The Coming RSS Revolution, by Arik Hesseldahl:

"If you're a heavy Web reader who makes daily stops at 25 different Web sites, you can spend the first half of your day just typing in the Web addresses into a browser, loading the page, and seeing if there's anything interesting to read."

This was written last February but I just stumbled across it. I recommend that everyone use Bloglines instead of NetNewsWire or FeedDemon. Web-based apps are what it's all about.

Posted at 14:00, GMT

What's Driving Wireless?

You may have noticed that the Wireless HOLDRs showed up as a best performer in both today's and yesterday's lists. Don't forget that among the 20 component stocks that make up that HOLDR are Ericsson (ERICY), Qualcomm (QCOM), and Research In Motion (RIMM). Year-over-year ERICY is up over 86%, QCOM is up over 97%, and RIMM is up an astounding 300%. Having a few huge winners can more than make up for the clinkers (like SRXA, RFMD, and AETH) in a portfolio.

Posted at 7:55, GMT

Best and Worst Performing ETFs (last twelve weeks)

I scanned my universe of ETFs for the best and worst performers over the last twelve weeks.

Best:

iShares MSCI Belgium Index (EWK)
iShares MSCI Brazil Index (EWZ)
Wireless HOLDRs Trust (WMH)
iShares MSCI South Africa Index (EZA)
iShares MSCI Sweden Index (EWD)

Worst:

Pharmaceutical HOLDRs Trust (PPH)
Semiconductor HOLDRs Trust (SMH)
Health Care Select Sect SPDR (XLV)
iShares Goldman Sachs Semiconductor (IGW)
Vanguard Health Care VIPERs (VHT)

Posted at 7:45, GMT

Chart of the Day -- Natural Gas futures, Weekly Chart

NatGas has moved to a new closing high (so has Crude, but everyone knows that). It's going to be a long, cold, and very expensive winter.

Natural Gas futures, Weekly Chart

Posted at 7:35, GMT

The mortgage market and consumer debt, remarks by Alan Greenspan:

"Housing price bubbles presuppose an ability of market participants to trade properties as they speculate about the future. But upon sale of a house, homeowners must move and live elsewhere. This necessity, as well as large transaction costs, are significant impediments to speculative trading and an important restraint on the development of price bubbles."

The Fed doesn't have an RSS feed; they should get one.

Posted at 7:25, GMT

Peeking at a world without short-sellers, by Herb Greenberg:

"Short-sellers are often sources for reporters, which itself is often the topic of controversy. Not that it should be, because to think reporters are running stock screens and randomly poring over SEC filings to spot potential 'needle-in-a-haystack' stories is ludicrous. More often than not, stories are sparked by news or tips, and the tips come in all shapes and sizes: from employees, investors, brokers, brokerage analysts and short-sellers. I make no excuses for talking to short-sellers. What, reporters should only talk to longs? The idea is to get ahead of the news, and short-sellers are among the best sources because their research is often the most impeccable, which is required if you're going against the grain."

I've always tried to read Herb, but often missed his column in the past. Since I've added him to my Bloglines blogroll I haven't missed one of his pieces. (And I wish more people made their blogrolls public.)

Posted at 7:15, GMT

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