Rupert Murdoch, the CEO of News Corp. (NWS) met with the Bancroft Family, the controlling entity of Dow Jones & Co. (DJ), on Monday. Murdoch emerged from the talks calling them “constructive” as the two parties seem to gravitate closer to an agreement.
Finding Profitable Covered Calls After China’s Shanghai Index Plummets 8.3%
Chinese stocks dropped Monday as the government made moves to chill the overheated market. The Shanghai Composite Index’s 8.3% plummet marked the largest one-day drop since the 8.8% drop on February 27, 2007. Since last Tuesday, the Shanghai index has dropped 15 percent.
A Company in Transition – Dell Computers – Covered Calls
Dell (DELL) shares opened over 3% higher today following the company’s positive earnings report last night. The stock fell to a 1.5% gain as of 1 pm. The computer maker was able to beat estimates for sales and earnings in the first-quarter. The company also announced it would cut 8,000 jobs in the coming year. Some analysts, however, have expressed their displeasure lately as Dell is lowering its expectations by selling at lower margins. Some market watchers feel Dell’s abandonment of direct sales in favor of low-margin retailers such as Wal-Mart (WMT) is emblematic of the problem.
Wachovia to acquire A.G. Edwards – Financial Sector Covered Calls
Wachovia Corporation (WB) will acquire the A.G. Edwards Inc. (AGE) brokerage in a deal set for execution later this year. The merger will create the nation’s second largest brokerage after Merrill Lynch (MER). The overall cash and stock value of the deal is estimated at $6.8 billion.
The Sopranos Finale Nears – A look at Waste Management Stocks
In the first episode of HBO’s ‘The Sopranos,’ Tony Soprano presents himself to his therapist as a waste management consultant. Immediately, his psychiatrist reveals her understanding this is synonymous for Tony’s real, and substantially seamier, occupation.
CME Bull Put Spreads Strategy – +12.4% in May 07
In article, “CME Buying CBOT”, we analyzed Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s (CME) purchase of CBOT (BOT) with an eye for a bullish strategy for CME. We continued the CME bull put credit spreads saga and for the month of May, the strategy returned a very nice +12.4% return. This strategy has returned over 52% in only six months. The bidding war between CME and ICE for CBOT continues as outlined in the article, “Two Exchanges May Enter Bidding War to Acquire the Chicago Board of Trade”. CME recently upped its bid for CBOT, but its bid is still not higher than ICE’s bid. Even if the CME/CBOT merger does not come to fruition, CME is looking bullish and using PowerOptions powerful stock options tools to search for potential candidates returned the following bull-put credit spreads stock options position:
Covered Call Investing in the Wireless Sector (Cell Phones)
Cell phone companies have been in the news quite a bit lately. The industry is bustling with technology and innovation. This can be confusing to investors as evidenced by the sometime frantic and schizophrenic market.
Jim Cramer’s Advice: Invest in Rest of World
Jim Cramer’s acronym for the hot places to invest is BRIC ME. This stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and the Middle East. But, in his usual hyper kinetic reasoning, he often clarifies this by saying the Rest of the World really includes nearly every country but Japan and the United States.
Rail Sector and Franchises Deliver Profits of 2.6% to 5.9% in May Covered Calls
The PowerOptions WeBlog accurately predicted the following trades in the articles “Entrepreneur Magazine Announces Top Franchises for 2007” and “Berkshire Hathaway Buys up Rail Stocks – A look at Covered Calls in the Railroad Sector”: Audio Podcast: An audio podcast of this article is available at: poweropt.com/podcasts/2007_05_22_May_Results.mp3
TPG Capital & Goldman Sachs Bid to Acquire Alltel – Covered Calls in the Telecom and Wireless sectors
Alltel Corporation (AT), the nation’s fifth-largest cell-phone provider (largest in terms of geographic area) announced Sunday night it has agreed to a deal to be acquired by the private investment firms TPG Capital (formerly Texas Pacific Group) and Goldman Sachs Capital as part of a $27.5 billion deal.