Archive | December, 2007
The Evolution of Screen Resolution
By Teresa Lo · 2007.12.24 · 12:40 PM · Comments are closed · Recent Articles
2008 will mark our tenth year on the internet. IntelligentSpeculator.com was my first website, and back in the day, web standards meant designing for 640 x 480 x 16 web-safe colors.
Tens years on, we can see from Google Analytics that 68.8 percent of our visitors are using screen resolutions higher than 1024 x 768. [...]
The Flood of Money into Agricultural Sector Investments
By Teresa Lo · 2007.12.24 · 12:15 PM · Comments are closed · Recent Articles
The news seems to be filled with stories about droughts, leading many to expect higher crop prices next year. The Peter Lynch response would be to do some research agribusiness companies.
One way is to use an exchange traded fund such as the Market Vectors Agribusiness ETF [MOO] which invests in best-of-breed companies [...]
Weekend Media Digest
By Teresa Lo · 2007.12.23 · 7:44 PM · Comments are closed · Recent Articles
Managing Mega-Caps
Portfolio Manager Nikos Monoyios on the benefits of investing in mega-cap stocks.
Economic Diary Week Ahead: German CPI, U.K. House Prices
Germany releases preliminary inflation figures for December, the Nationwide Building Society publishes U.K. house price data and Japan reports on industrial production. Bloomberg’s Lucy Meakin and Richard Dean preview the economic calendar for the week [...]
Update: Coal is Smokin’
By Teresa Lo · 2007.12.21 · 4:16 PM · Comments are closed · Recent Articles
DJ Wilshire U.S. Coal Index Outperformance
On December 10, we surveyed Jim Cramer’s “rotate out of coal into natural gas” recommendation.
While there may be a “green” argument for natural gas on a fundamental level, the fact is that coal is powering … China. As a trader, I told our clients:
To recap, Cramer said [...]
Ethanol: Is Archer Daniels Midland a Double Threat?
By Teresa Lo · 2007.12.21 · 3:46 PM · Comments are closed · Recent Articles
U.S. President Bush signed into law Wednesday legislation “that will bring more fuel-efficient vehicles into auto showrooms and require wider use of ethanol, calling it “a major step” toward energy independence and easing global warming.” This news gives hope to those holding onto battered ethanol stocks.
Not long ago, this sector had a [...]
Weekend Reading: ECB Financial Stability Report
By Teresa Lo · 2007.12.21 · 10:24 AM · Comments are closed · Recent Articles
Everywhere I look, central bankers have been made the whipping boy for not responding “correctly” in the latest financial crisis. Criticism has been shrill to say the least, particularly against Greenie.
This really bothers me. I mean, do the critics really think that central banks have that much power? Can monetary [...]
Answers to The Season’s Vexing Questions
By Teresa Lo · 2007.12.20 · 3:16 AM · Comments are closed · Recent Articles
There will be countless lumps of coal stuffed into stockings this year. Santa sure knows that the investment industry has been much more naughty than nice.
Still, it might be easier to explain (and potentially redeem oneself after taking) multi-billion dollar writedowns than:
Answer a young daughter’s question so to why Zoey 101 might be cancelled, [...]
Press Digest for Thursday
By Teresa Lo · 2007.12.20 · 12:59 AM · Comments are closed · Recent Articles
Why is the gold standard crazy?
In short, you don’t get anything out of a gold standard that you didn’t bring with you. If your government is a credible steward of the money supply, you don’t need it; and if it isn’t, it won’t be able to stay on it long anyway. (See Argentina’s dollar peg). [...]