Finland is a land of many lakes, trees, endless days in the summer and a period of 51 grueling sunless days in the winter. It has been rated the freest nation in the world, according to international groups who rate such things, and has twice provided the world with the winner of the Miss Universe pageant (including the first woman to win the pageant in 1952).
Surviving the Storm with Energy Sector ETFs
We did a little number crunching on today’s market results and found the following: Only 8% of all exchange traded funds made gains today, while 41% of energy sector exchange traded funds made gains in trading.
Citi Disappoints – A Bearish Look at the Financial Sector
Citi (C) was down nearly 3.5% today despite beating analysts’ estimates. Overall, the company raked in $2.4 Billion last quarter. Unfortunately this is nearly 60% lower than the same quarter last year.
Covered Calls on Stocks Held by Bill Gates
Bill Gates invests through a vehicle called Cascade Investment Holdings. On the blog today, we thought it might be interesting to look at the investment fund’s top held equities and a potential covered call investment strategy involving them.
Analysts Bullish About Costco – Covered Calls
Costco Wholesale (COST), perhaps benefiting from consumers hoping to save money as gas prices rise and the specter of inflation looms on the horizon, saw its profits rise 4.7% in the fourth quarter.
This Bud Stops Here – Coors and Miller Team up to Compete in Domestic US Market
Molson Coors Brewing Company (TAP) and SABMiller (UK:SAB) have entered into a joint operating agreement in the US and Puerto Rico in hopes of boosting profits.
Covered Calls on Optionable ETFs
Casual investors often love the simplicity of index mutual funds and dollar cost averaging. Option investors love the excitement of a more exotic trade and the downside protection offered by common trades such as Covered Calls and in the money spreads. Exchange Traded Funds are a fund tracking an index, but can be traded like a stock.
The Apple of the Media’s Eye and its Competitors
The Zune’s current market share is around 2.8 percent. This is greater than Apple’s (AAPL) 2.3 percent personal computer market share in 2003 but still described as a pittance by most news outlets. The LA times business section led with an article entitled, “Zunes not likely to get iPod fans to change their tunes.”
Tearing the Veneer Off Ethanol Hype – Bear Position Options
There have been widespread news reports suggesting the end of the rather short-lived ethanol boom. Ethanol was originally sold as a cure-all because it was renewable, good for farmers, great for midwestern cargo-rail, and brought jobs to rural interior communities.
New York Times is now Free Online – Will the Wall Street Journal Follow?
The New York Times (NYT), perhaps bowing to criticism, but more likely seeing the error in their online revenue model has chosen to make the online version of its publication free. Rupert Murdoch has reportedly been toying with the idea of doing the same with the Wall Street Journal. Does this mark the ‘tipping point’ for the pay for access model some online publications have been experimenting with?