MaoXian.com -- Archive > October 28, 2004

Skindred

Another album recommendation from the Chairman: Skindred's Babylon. Kind of a heavy metal/punk/reggae mixture (I know that sounds awful, but it's remarkably good).

Posted at 19:55, GMT

CNNfn Network to Close by Mid-December, by Kenneth Li

Time to rewrite this paragraph:

"Viewers' fascination with the markets cooled after the bull-market hype of the late 1990s was replaced by reports of white-collar criminal convictions."

Viewers' fascination with the markets cooled after they had their asses handed to them in the worst bear market of the last several generations.

Posted at 19:25, GMT

Stocks to Watch -- Thursday, October 28

Posted at 14:15, GMT

Chart of the Day -- Starbucks (SBUX), Monthly Chart

Yes, Starbucks moved to a new all-time high yesterday, and yes, it's still possible to sell suckers a 30 cent cup of coffee for 3 dollars.

SBUX, Monthly Chart

Posted at 8:25, GMT

An Update from the Digital World, by Mary Meeker: (PDF)

A report from Morgan Stanley on RSS, blogs, and MyYahoo! It's hard not to laugh at phrases such as "user engagement" and "monetizable advertising inventory," but read it anyway.

-- via Infectious Greed --

Posted at 8:15, GMT

Best and Worst Performing ETFs (Year-Over-Year)

I scanned my universe of ETFs for the best and worst performers year-over-year. I feature the ETF scan every Thursday.

Best:

iShares MSCI Austria Index (EWO) - Up ~63%
iShares MSCI Belgium Index (EWK) - Up ~48%
Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE) - Up ~48%
iShares Dow Jones US Energy (IYE) - Up ~47%
Oil Service HOLDRs Trust (OIH) - Up ~46%

Worst:

Semiconductor HOLDRs Trust (SMH) - Down ~22%
iShares Goldman Sachs Semiconductor (IGW) - Down ~18%
B2B Internet HOLDRs Trust (BHH) - Down ~14%
iShares MSCI Taiwan Index (EWT) - Down ~7%
iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology (IBB) - Down ~4%

Posted at 7:55, GMT

The Countdown Continues, by Jeremy Grantham: (PDF)

The most interesting bit is at the back: Letter to the Investment Committee I.

"In markets where investors are acting for themselves, prices are pushed away from fair price by behavioral twitches. We are not hard wired to be 'economic man', quickly and efficiently processing all available data. In contrast, we are plagued by herding, overconfidence, wishful thinking, and difficulties when processing multiple factors, particularly when they involve probabilities."

He also provides this handy-dandy graphic of The Way the Investment World Goes Around, which is more or less accurate.

Posted at 7:45, GMT

Is America Losing Its Edge? by Adam Segal:

"Thirty-eight percent of the nation's scientists and engineers with doctorates were born outside the country. And of the Ph.D.'s in science and engineering awarded to foreign students in the United States from 1985 to 2000, more than half went to students from China, India, South Korea, and Taiwan."

... who promptly settled down in the United States. I've always said it's better to be poor in America than rich in China (or India, South Korea, or Taiwan). Every Chinese Ph.D., M.D., M.B.A., etc. we know (and we know lots) either live in the US or work for an American company in China.

Posted at 7:35, GMT

Tipping Over, by Bill Gross:

"... the thing I/PIMCO are most certain of in this uncertain environment is that real short rates must stay low - perhaps as low as 0.5%. The debt-laden finance-based U.S. economy is simply too fragile to tolerate what many consider to be more normal, Taylor-based real yields of 2% or so. If so, assets that can lever off of an attractive low real rate and securities that are priced by real rates themselves (TIPS) offer opportunities as the marketplace adjusts to these new realities."

Posted at 7:25, GMT

SEC Orders Hedge Funds to Register, by Kevin Drawbaugh:

"Hedge fund advisers will have to register with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and submit to examinations under a new rule approved on Tuesday in a 3-2 vote by the market-policing agency ... The new rule will take effect in February 2006. Funds with less than $25 million under management will be exempt."

Posted at 7:15, GMT

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